Tundra
by ThorHammer17
Summary: Felix and Mia. Thoroughly revised and finally complete. If you really think it needs an epilogue, let me know with a review.
1. The Tempest

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners. **

Tundra

Chapter 1: The Tempest

Ivan felt it on the back of his neck first. True, the sun hung over the sky, its rays falling on the occupants of the Lemurian ship comfortably, but it was deceptive. Ivan's Psynergy began to course through his body, negligibly at first, then slowly increasing to a highly conspicuous flow. The power of the wind within his veins trembled in anticipation of the upcoming storm. Drained as he was from the recent venture at Magma Rock, he was concerned that what minimal power he had left was reacting so strongly. In a storm so powerful, even their mighty vessel's safety would be in danger. He hurried off toward the deck to find Felix.

Coincidentally, Felix was relishing the passivity of the weather. He loved piloting the ship, and he had become rather adept at handling it. He breathed in deeply, refreshing his lungs with the saline ocean air, a welcome break from the smoke and fumes of Magma Rock.

He let his ebony hair flow freely behind him, and took in the sight of the mountains that sheltered Vale. Far off in the distance, he thought that he could almost make out the peak of Mt. Aleph, but after a moment, he was sure that it had been his imagination. He sighed aloud. He longed to see his home. He was so close that he could almost reach out and touch it. All that stood between him and Vale was a "great power" at the zenith of Mars Lighthouse. Let it come, he thought to himself. He would return home, and in triumph.

A loud crash snapped him out of his reverie. He stopped the ship and turned around to see Ivan lying on top of Sheba, both of them moaning. Felix said nothing, raising an eyebrow at their awkward position as Sheba became aware of his presence.

"Get off me, you klutz!" growled Sheba, kicking Ivan squarely in the shin.

This brought Ivan back down to earth, reminding him of his provocative position. Despite the horrid throbbing in the back of his head, he rolled over, off of Sheba, and sat with his back to the wall, just outside of the main door that led from the hold to the deck.

Sheba and Ivan nursed their respective dignities, as Felix patiently awaited an explanation.

"Felix, there's something you…" said Ivan and Sheba simultaneously.

"Go ahead, Sheba," said Ivan, glancing to her and then back at Felix.

"There is a big storm coming, Felix. Hama was right when she said that the wind's power was going to put things out of balance. We need to get to somewhere safe."

Felix, the strong and silent leader as always, nodded in understanding, immediately returned to the helm. Sheba, receiving Felix's unspoken command, beckoned for Ivan to help her rouse the others to secure the ship.

As the rest of the group worked hard below deck, Felix watched the sky fade from the crystalline blue to a foreboding gray, which was rapidly turning black. Even as a Venus adept, he could feel the intensity of the electricity in the air. The halcyon breeze of a few hours earlier had been replaced by an aggressive wind, rocking the boat with its low, rumbling strength.

Felix guided the ship toward the North Sea. The ground along the coast was covered with snow, and there was no civilization in sight. He saw, to his chagrin, that they would be unable to reach Prox before the storm arrived, and he did not relish spending his last moments churning in an icy Northern Sea, only to be crushed beneath a giant block of ice.

"Kraden!" shouted Felix.

There was no reply.

"Kraden!" he hollered again.

"Yes, Felix?" the scholar replied, hurrying out on deck with speed surprising for a man of his age.

"We need to land. We won't be able to make it to Prox before the storm hits. Will you gather the others?"

Kraden nodded and walked off.

As the old scholar left, Felix looked up at the sky. The clouds were black and heavy with rain, but the sky itself had taken on a ghostly green hue. He resisted the urge to shudder, and halted the boat once more as his friends made their way to the deck. Once everyone had gathered, he began to speak. Everyone was attentive.

"We need to stop, and soon," he said simply. "The problem is going to be finding somewhere safe to lay anchor. Indra is too far away, and that heads into the storm, so we're going to have to try to run for the west coast of Angara. We'll try to find somewhere to wait it out. That's the plan, unless anyone has a more appropriate idea."

He waited for comments from his friends. None were forthcoming.

"Alright. Sheba and Ivan, go below deck and do what you can to slow the storm, or at least protect the ship. Piers, take the engine room. Will you need help?"

Piers pursed his lips in thought for a moment.

"Jenna and Garet would help me. I'll need them if anything breaks."

"Go," replied Felix. "You too, Ivan and Sheba."

As they rushed off to prepare themselves, Felix assessed his remaining allies.

"Kraden, stay with Ivan and Sheba, where it's safe. I'm sure Sheba and Ivan will need your help staying healthy."

Kraden accepted his orders with a nod and went below the deck.

"Mia and Isaac, I need you here on deck with me. Isaac, if anything happens to me, you need to take over the helm. Mia…"

"You want me to keep the waves off of the ship, right? Or at least slow them down so that you can steer?"

Mia had been totally subdued up until this point. Felix found himself surprised by the intuitive healer. She adapted to strange situations very well, and always kept her cool in a crisis. And, though he didn't want it to be common knowledge, he considered her very attractive as well. Felix knew better than to act on his feelings, though, however strong they may be. It wasn't appropriate for a leader to act in that manner, and to Felix, his quest meant more to him than anything.

He realized that he had been silent for some time, and affirmed Mia's statement. She opened her mouth slightly, then nodded firmly and stood a few steps away from the helm.

Felix returned his focus to piloting the ship, pushing it through the web of currents that only became more intricate as they approached the coast of Angara.

Felix's keen eyes scanned the shoreline for a break in the cliffs or a likely-looking alcove, but there seemed to be none. He glanced at the storm behind them. The fearsome tempest had begun to spit bolts of lightning and thunder, and the wind whipped Felix's hair into his eyes and face. This was becoming very dangerous, but there was no shelter in sight. Felix silently cursed himself for putting his friends into this position. Admittedly, no one would ever say that Felix had made a single mistake so far, but that was Felix's character.

"Isaac!" Felix yelled over the gale, "Tell everyone to get ready. We aren't going to make it. This could get rough."

He altered his strategy, moving the ship out of the shallows to make sure that their only opponent was the storm in the open sea, instead of the deadly cliffs. He continued to take the occasional off-glance at the storm behind him. The hulking wraith trampled the sky and the daylight, yet still no rain fell, and the thunder and lightning were still far off. At this point, Mia leaned over to Felix and spoke breathlessly into his ear as she pointed off into the distance.

"Felix… What is _that_?"

He followed her finger to the edge of the storm on the horizon. At first, Felix could not perceive anything other than a wide, distorted bump in the middle of the ocean. He continued to watch the strange phenomenon as it grew in size and came closer to the ship. After a moment, it was no longer a bump, but a curtain, and it flew toward the ship with furious speed, increasing in size all the while, until it was three times as tall as the ship.

It finally dawned on Felix exactly what that wall was, and he didn't like it. He used his Psynergy to drop the anchor, and then only had enough time to put himself in front of Mia before the brunt of the storm struck the ship with the ferocity to lift Felix and Mia completely off of their feet.

Felix instinctively grabbed Mia's arm and attempted to pull her toward him, to keep both of them from flying off of the ship. He caught her, and reached out with his other hand to grab hold of something, of anything, but the rain was too thick to see through. A fraction of a second later, the two adepts were flung off the vessel like rag dolls, and thrown into the open air above the sea. Mia, grasping Felix tightly, prayed that she had enough Psynergy to sustain them through the storm. She pulled herself closer to Felix as they plunged into the frothy abyss.

Isaac felt the bump as Felix released control of the wheel. He rushed to open the door, only to discover the same wind that had blown Felix overboard. Ivan and Sheba were down on the floor below him, faces contorted with the effort necessary to stop lightning from hitting the ship, not to mention slowing the winds. The power of the initial blast had abated, but the wind still blew furiously, forcing Isaac to use his arms as bars to prevent himself from flying out of the door. He planted his feet into the ground, and focused his mind on his Psynergy, using it to pull the door shut.

He knew that there was no way for him to get outside. He hoped that Felix and Mia were safe, but he knew that if anyone could keep Mia out of danger, it was Felix.

"Especially as overprotective as he is," thought Isaac, though he regretted the idea as soon as it crossed his mind.

The storm raged on for hours, and Isaac tried several times to open the door again, with no success. He resigned himself to the hope that somehow Mia and Felix were well.


	2. The Wound and the Eye

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners. **

Tundra

Chapter 2: The Wound and the Eye

**-Meanwhile-**

Felix cursed himself for being unable to start a fire. It was so cold that he had lost feeling in his fingers and toes. He could see the snow-capped peaks to the north, serving only to increase his anxiety. He had built a small earthen shelter to stop the wind and sleet, and had done his best to heal Mia, but he knew that she would be in serious danger unless he could start a fire. The gash on the side of his own head felt better, but he admitted to himself that the cold might have been acting as a painkiller.

He was glad that Mia was asleep. She was breathing, but her robes, normally a bright blue, had turned a dark purple hue. Felix was worried about what waited for him underneath, but he hadn't dared to expose her to the deadly frost.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he finally convinced the flames to spring up from the piece of wood, but when that first tongue of flame appeared, his heart leapt in triumph, and the tension in his chest and muscles relaxed slightly. He fanned the flames until the small fire warmed the hut to the point that Felix could assess Mia's injury.

He opened Mia's outer robe slowly, careful not to disturb her sleep. He sighed with relief as he removed her outer layer. There was nothing lodged within her body, which was what he was worried about. Anything else, he knew he could deal with. He lifted up her undershirt modestly, blushing furiously as even his stoic nature couldn't help but notice Mia's soft, white skin.

He forced those thoughts to the back of his mind, and concentrated on the sliced skin down Mia's right side. He focused his healing powers on the wound, though his abilities were somewhat weakened by the absence of his Djinn. After about twenty minutes of hard work, the wound, wherever it had come from, was closed and the bleeding stopped.

As Felix sat back against wall of the improvised hut, attempting to catch his breath, his ears caught a small sigh, barely audible over the soft crackling of the fire and the howl of the wind passing over the makeshift chimney.

"Mia?" asked Felix anxiously.

"Mmh?" came the muffled reply.

"How are you feeling? You've been out for a while."

Mia slowly opened her eyes a little bit, and tried to sit up. Felix gently pushed her back down.

"Don't move more than you have to. I barely got your wound to stop bleeding."

Mia's hand strayed to her side, touching her injury tenderly. She grimaced.

"What happened?" asked Felix.

"I don't know," she replied. "Whatever it was, it happened after I was knocked out."

Mia shivered violently as a fierce gust of wind blew over their shelter. After a moment fresh blood appeared on Mia's shirt.

"Ahh…" said Mia, biting her lip in pain.

Felix opened his mouth to tell Mia to lay back down, but before he could, he saw Mia's Psynergy begin to glow, only to pitter out.

"I don't have anything left, Felix, I'm sorry."

"I'll take care of it. May I?"

"What? Oh!" she said, as Felix shifted himself closer to her side. "Yes… Go ahead."

He could hardly stop himself from shaking, but he took a deep breath to calm himself as Mia lifted her shirt. There was nothing, however, that he could do about his flushing color, except hope that it would escape Mia's notice.

To his luck, Mia's attention was focused on her wound as he worked. His focus once more shifted from Mia's body to his Psynergy, struggling to draw power from the frozen earth. It took all of his attention, and as such, he did not notice Mia's wandering eyes come to rest upon him.

Mia felt her heartbeat quicken a little bit as Felix lifted her undershirt, and took what she hoped was an unnoticeable deep breath. She had found Felix's toned, muscular body attractive since she first laid eyes on him, but she had never even considered acting on those thoughts. It simply would not be proper to act on feelings like the ones she had for him. That said, however, it didn't make Felix's ministrations any less nerve-wracking. She took another deep breath and clenched her right fist tightly, attempting to move the thoughts out of her mind. Compartmentalizing a crush – especially a big one – was much easier said than done.

"There," said Felix, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking up. "All done."

Mia unclenched her hand.

"Mia, are you ok?" Felix asked. "Your face is all flushed."

"No, no, I'm fine," she said, a little too quickly. "Thank you for fixing that."

Felix leaned over and blew softly on the flames, fanning them up.

"You need to stay warm. I don't know how many more of those I have in me."

Mia obliged, and she pulled herself gingerly closer to the fire, and laid down. She closed her eyes, and a minute later, she felt a warm cover being placed on top of her. She accepted it gratefully, and fell into a deep sleep.

The storm had abated, for a moment. Ivan opened an eye from his meditation to tell Isaac that the storm seemed to be slowing down, and that he would have a chance to go outside. Isaac, who had been pacing up and down the ship's corridors, immediately headed for the door to the deck. After standing at the entrance for about five minutes, he heard the winds slow noticeably. He put his shoulder down to force open the door, only to fly face-first onto the floor of the deck – the wind had almost completely dissipated. He shook himself off, and stood back up. The sight in front of him as he looked up nearly knocked him back to ground.

In a circle around him, about half a mile in any direction, the monstrous storm still blazed fiercely, but the area immediately adjunct to the ship was completely calm.

"We must be in the center," he thought to himself.

It had certainly taken long enough to catch a break. Ivan and Sheba barely had anything left, and they had dealt with some close calls. The boat had almost tipped twice in absence of a helmsman.

In the bowels of the ship, Piers and the two Fire adepts were busy channeling the heat from the engine out of the boat. Several pieces had failed altogether, although Piers had assured Isaac that the boat would survive.

A sense of ability reentered Isaac's chest for the first time in hours. He could finally do something to help. He knew nothing of Felix's whereabouts, but he knew that Mia's Psynergy would help her to survive in the water, until she hit land. As he looked around himself again, however, Isaac realized that it didn't matter, because even if the vessel made it to the shore before the storm hit, the ship would be in serious danger so close to land, as would everyone on it.

Isaac noticed the dropped anchor, and marveled at Felix's sense of judgment. If the anchor hadn't been released, they would all probably be dead.

The blond felt jealous in spite of himself. Felix's capabilities seemed to dwarf his in any area. That wouldn't have bothered him if it didn't feel like Felix seemed to be out to get him at times. Isaac's notion was that it had something to do with Jenna; for some reason, the idea of Jenna and Isaac even talking to each other made Felix edgy. It wasn't as though Felix had any reason to trust Isaac, either – Felix didn't know how much he had sacrificed to get himself to where he was, which made Isaac feel like he had something to prove.

Isaac immediately cursed himself for his idle thoughts and turned his attention back to the storm. He could worry about his own personal life later. Isaac ran back inside, and grabbed a piece of rope of a reasonable length from one of the storage rooms. Felix hadn't had any idea how strong the winds were going to be, but Isaac had decided that he was going to pilot the ship, no matter how difficult it was. He yelled for a Fire adept from the engine room, and began to tie himself down.

A moment later, Garet came upstairs, looking around for Isaac. Garet looked blankly at the rope, trying to decipher what in the world Isaac was trying to do. After a moment, he gave up.

"Isaac, what in the world are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm piloting-_mmh-_the bloody-_rrg-_-ship, what does it-_gah-_look like?" he responded angrily, as he struggled with the rope.

"Ah, finally got it," Isaac said, as he finally secured the last piece of the rope around his hands. "Sorry Garet, that was uncalled for. I'm going to stay tied down so that I can pilot the ship. Which is why I need you. I need you to heat the soles of these boots so that they stick to the deck. That way I don't break any bones trying to hang on to the wheel."

"This sure seems like something Felix would do," said Garet, "but I never had you pegged for a suicidal idiot."

"Thanks for the support," responded Isaac grimly. "You'd better get back down to Piers. We're going to be fighting again in a minute. Make Ivan and Sheba are ready."

"Yes sir, Captain Suicide. Who do you want to pilot the ship after you die?" asked Garet, as he burned the rubber soles of Isaac's shoes.

Isaac glared at his friend in reply. Garet snickered immaturely as he walked off.

"Idiot," muttered Isaac, moving his hands on the helm as if to rev a motorcycle.

This was going to be interesting, he thought to himself.


	3. Outlasting Nature's Fury

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

Tundra

Chapter 3: Outlasting Nature's Fury

Felix didn't regret giving his cloak to Mia, not in the slightest. His clothes had stayed dry while he was in the ocean, thanks to Mia's Psynergy, and he knew that she needed the warmth. No, what he regretted was that he had neglected to bring another. The air chilled him to the bone every time the winds blew over the hole in the roof that functioned as the chimney.

Also, the fire was slowly dying. The wood Felix had gathered from the cluster of trees near the ice flow he and Mia had woken up on had almost completely been depleted, and the last thing Felix wished to do was to soak his clothes in the freezing weather to go look for more. Yet, despite his misgivings, he proceeded to awaken Mia.

"Mia," he whispered over the howling winds, tapping her arm gently.

"You need to wake up. I'm going to get more firewood. Make sure you stay awake until I get back."

He waited until Mia seemed reasonably alert before heading out. He cast the Sand Psynergy he had acquired at Gaia Rock to bring himself outside. As his body reconstructed itself, he felt the frigid air even more keenly, and took in the landscape around him.

The area to the north presented a stunningly nihilistic view, an empty plain holding only blanketed snow and certain death. Felix turned his back on the depressing sight, heading southward though series of small snow drifts that led back to the small icefield on which they had arrived. Just to the northeast, he spied, through the thick snow, the pocket of pine trees he had spotted when he first awoke.

As he made his slow progress through the snowfield, Felix became aware of the hunger clawing his stomach. True, there was enough snow falling to keep him hydrated for a lifetime, but he needed food soon, as did Mia. He looked for signs of life and sustenance, but he saw nothing that seemed edible.

He came closer to the trees, the feeling in his toes and fingers completely nonexistent after just minutes of walking through the snow. It was so thick that he could only see the faintest traces of the black smoke rising from his shelter.

The small cluster of pine trees, when he finally reached them, afforded some shelter with which to recuperate for a moment. What Felix saw when he attempted to crawl underneath the boughs of the branches astonished him.

Underneath the limbs and needles were two very large eggs. Both had tough, shiny shells with a deep, ebony color. Their sheen was remarkable, especially given the present conditions, and since there were no parents in sight, Felix picked up the football-sized eggs, along with more firewood, and began to trek back through the thunderstorm-turned-snowstorm where Mia waited for him.

* * *

It was a battle of man versus nature, intelligence against fury, and fury seemed to have the upper hand at the moment. At first Isaac had done well, handling what the storm threw at him without great difficulty. Then, something had happened below deck. Unbeknownst to Isaac, Ivan had lost consciousness, and the tempest seemed, to him, to have developed a thirst for blood, churning the sea and sky above and below the boat. Isaac was not exactly sure what had happened at first, but after a few minutes of increased winds and dangerously close lightning strikes, he deduced with a fair amount of accuracy that his crew was at the moment short a Wind Adept.

His plan to glue himself to the deck and the helm had gone rather well, but he was losing ground to the storm every minute. His hands had long since blistered and opened and reblistered, and every moment he remained in the gaping maw of the tempest made him more likely to send him and all of his friends to the bottom of the sea.

Isaac wasn't about to give up, though. He had a boat full of people depending on him – friends so close they were almost family. Isaac was determined to prove that he was worthy of that trust, though the storm seemed equally resolved to thwart him.

He used all of the skill he had developed as a result of piloting Babi's "borrowed" Lemurian ship (which they had since returned to the rightful owners) in the fight for his life, and the lives of everyone on board. He could scarcely see the ocean right in front of him because of the rain, so he had to rely on his instincts.

The battle raged on for hours, and as each wave smashed itself upon the ship, Isaac did not know if he would be alive for the next. Slowly but surely, however, Isaac began to gain the upper hand. The waves came less frequently and less harshly, and the winds slowed. Several hours later, the clouds broke, and the sun shone down on the ocean, a more beautiful sun than Isaac had ever seen.

It was at the point that the Venus Adept noticed that he was no longer alone on deck. He used Psynergy to cut the ropes, but he couldn't turn around, so he bent over and removed his feet from the boots. The number of people behind him came to a total of three: Kraden, Sheba, and Jenna.

"How did we do?" asked Isaac.

"Ivan passed out, Garet got some nasty welts from the steam in the engine room, and Piers can barely stand. We're all fine though. Nothing permanent, if that's what you mean," said Sheba happily.

"Good," he sighed. "I'm glad we're all OK."

He bent over on his hands and knees, almost falling to one knee as he suddenly realized the extent of his fatigue. Sheba ran up to catch him, and after a moment of rest, he stood back up.

"Well?" said Jenna, sounding for all the world like a cobra about to strike.

"Huh?" asked a very confused Isaac.

"What do you mean '_Huh_?'" she screamed. "You idiot! I thought Garet was trying to make a joke when he told us what you wanted him for! I never thought you could do anything so _stupid_! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!"

Jenna inhaled sharply and bit her lip. She searched for more words, but, unable to find any, she cocked back her hand and hit Isaac in the face with a resounding smack before storming off below deck.

Kraden raised his eyebrows, and Sheba whistled, as Jenna slammed the door behind her.

"Ow," said Isaac simply.

"That being said, Isaac, I'm sure I speak for all of us, including Jenna, by thanking you for almost certainly saving all of our lives," Kraden intoned.

"Gee, Kraden, thanks," replied Isaac, his voice thick with sarcasm, all the while massaging the bright red handprint on his cheek.

"She'll get over it," dismissed Sheba. "Come on, let's eat!"

"I'll cook!" exclaimed Kraden, looking fifteen years younger now that he had something to do. He sprinted inside. Isaac and Sheba followed him slowly and sat down at the main table.

Ten minutes later, Kraden took the soup off of the stove, carefully pouring it into three bowls. He brought in the first two, smiling at the image of the expectant and grateful faces of his young friends. He was rather disappointed to find both of them already asleep, heads down on the table.

"Oh well," he thought. "I'll just go get my soup and eat alone, then."

Kraden never did actually act on this thought, but joined Isaac and Sheba in a well-earned slumber.


	4. Subsiding Winds

Tundra

Chapter 4: Subsiding Winds

Mia awoke to a smoky, yet delectable, fragrance wafting its way past her nose. Her stomach growled at the thought of cooked food, and she opened her eyes. Felix had brought back more firewood, in addition to food that he cooked over their lukewarm fire. She had remained awake until Felix returned, as he had requested, and then promptly fallen asleep again. Now, though, she sat up gingerly, careful to avoid reopening her wound.

"Mia, you're awake!" said Felix brightly. "Here, have some of these eggs. They're delicious, I've never had anything like them."

He handed her scrambled eggs on a piece of charred bark. Mia, as hungry as she was, tried her best to inhale the hot meal as fast as possible, without looking foolish at the same time. She finished a few minutes later, scraping what little remained on the wooden slab toward her mouth.

"Ahh. Thank you," she said.

Felix replied with a nod and a slight smile. Mia's jaw nearly dropped.

"He smiled! At me!" she thought. "He never smiles at anybody…"

Her heart jumped for joy inside of her chest as she sat back, content for the moment.

In the more private recesses of his mind, Felix wondered if Mia could possibly feel the same unfulfillable sense of longing in her heart that he did. He wanted to reach out his arms and pull her close to him, and keep her safe from the impersonal cold all around them. His heart ached with every beat, knowing that he couldn't do it. No one person could be more important to him than the others, no matter how he felt about them.

In an effort to remove himself from her presence, he lay on the ground near the fire, on the opposite side of Mia, his back towards her and to the tongues of flame. He busied himself tyring to get warm and dry again, but with little success. It was all he could do to keep from freezing. He remained motionless for several minutes, trying to will the cold from his body.

On the bright side, the snow seemed to have abated somewhat, at least to the point that it was no longer falling though their chimney in chunks. However, he could do nothing about the wind, and he became steadily colder. Then, he felt another body slide up behind him, and press itself against his back.

"Felix," Mia whispered into his ear, "it's too cold."

Mia slid her arms up between her chest and his back, grasping a small piece of the fabric that clothed his back. Felix tensed his body for a moment. This wasn't right, and he knew it. Then, after several minutes, he realized that her breathing had leveled out. Too cold to care about the implications of his actions, Felix, too, relaxed and fell asleep.

Jenna sat in her quarters for hours, with the door locked. She had already spent her fury, and now her swollen eyes and nose projected a view to her primary passtime for the past two hours. She sniffed sullenly as she realized that she was probably at fault for what had just happened between her and Isaac. She was even more worried that Isaac hadn't even come to find her and talk to her, a fact which only brought more silent tears down her cheeks. She sniffed again, swinging her feet out from under her and off to the edge of the bed.

She stood up quickly, wiping her eyes. She couldn't take sitting alone with her thoughts, and departed in an attempt to find Isaac. She looked in his room, in the common room downstairs, and in all the hallways, though the only occupant on that floor was Ivan, asleep in his bed. She went to the engine room as well, but the only one there was Piers, who was working quietly on repairing the damaged components of the immense contraption.

To her immense surprise, the ship was fairly quiet. She had expected that everyone else was just leaving her alone, but now she wondered where everyone was. She pulled herself up the steps, and found her answers. Those answers were still asleep at the table, soup untouched.

Jenna tried to creep away quietly, but she had a clumsy moment, and tripped over one of the rugs that littered the floor of the room. Both Sheba and Isaac awoke immediately, and, to Jenna's dismay, unconsciously brought their hands to the place where their weapons would have hung on their respective belts. She reflected for a brief moment on how much they had all changed over the course of their quest.

"Oh, Jenna," said Sheba, relaxing her guard, "don't scare me like that."

Sheba looked to her left and saw Isaac, and immediately recognized an awkward situation.

"Umm, I need to, eh, get something out of my room. Be back later."

She hurried off.

Isaac drew a deep breath and stood up, intending to apologize to Jenna for his rashness.

"Jenna, I'm…"

She nearly knocked him off his feet with an embrace that could have killed any lesser human being. He heard his back crack, multiple times, as his airways constricted. He sighed as quietly as he could manage when she pulled away her arms. Jenna didn't seem to notice.

"So, um, thanks for saving us and everything," she said, looking down at the ground in shame.

"Don't mention it," said Isaac. "It was my fault… I shouldn't have done something that dangerous."

"Listen, I feel horrible about, uh, slapping you and stuff. I didn't mean it that way, I just didn't want… um…" she trailed off, and her heart rate quickened.

"Didn't want what?" asked Isaac.

"Didn't want you to get hurt," she recovered, her heart rate resettling – she had almost let it slip.

"Oh. Well, thanks for saying something," said Isaac with a smile.

The blond looked around for a moment, and his expression morphed to a quizzical one.

"Is something the matter, Isaac?" asked Jenna anxiously. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, this isn't what we were just talking about," he said, very slowly, "but something might be wrong. Who's piloting the ship?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Jenna, as realization dawned on her. "Nobody!"

With that, Isaac ran off to the helm of their battered, but proud, ship. Jenna exhaled once again – her feelings for Isaac weren't something she wanted him to know about. She thought that he would find it childish and immature, especially considering how strong their friendship was.

"Well, I think you handled that rather nicely," said a voice from inside the hallway.

Jenna looked toward the door in surprise.

"Sheba!" she shouted, "Did you listen that whole time?"

"Not the _whole _time, just most of it. I missed a few words right when I left."

She giggled mischievously.

"I agree," said Kraden, who had been asleep at the table, "that was a job well done. We're all glad you said something."

"Kraden!" she fumed, "Not you too!"

Jenna paused for a moment, and considered Kraden's words.

"What do you mean 'we all'?"

"Oh, just a poor word choice. Sheba and I, of course."

The redhead looked at Kraden dubiously, and then went into the kitchen. She was hungry, and had no desire for cold soup. A Firemaster never eats cold soup. She sat back down at the table with her friends and ate her meal quietly as Kraden and Sheba conversed. After she ate, she went back to bed, tired from a long day of stormy seas and equally stormy emotions.


	5. Snowy Dreamer, Ocean Guide

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**Sorry that this took so long, everyone who reads my story! I've been a little busy with some other projects lately, but I did finally get this chapter finished, and it's pretty long, so it was worth the wait, right?**

Tundra

Chapter 5: Snowy Dreamer, Ocean Guide

Restful nights were not keen on finding Felix, nor others of his ilk. Leaders rarely sleep well in times of crisis, and this was indeed a time of crisis. However, once in a while, Felix did get a good night's rest. The previous night had indeed been so, with Mia up against his back, holding onto him for warmth.

Now very awake, Felix poked his head out of the shelter, and saw nothing but snow for miles around. He pulled his head back in with a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong, Felix?" asked Mia, who was on the ground, still unable to move much because of her wound.

"I can't even see the ship, Mia, and the sky is clear," he replied.

"But…" she said, her eyes widening at the implications of the statement, "if we can't see the ship then…"

"They're fine. The ship was probably just blown out of the way. They'll be back to get us, and soon."

_I hope, _thought Felix. He couldn't afford himself any lack of confidence. After all, Mia was depending on him.

"You're right," said Mia, "The winds were really strong, after all…"

Felix knew that he and Mia were sharing the exact same feelings at the moment. A silence settled over them, and Felix found himself growing uncomfortable with inaction. He had long since lost his perfect sense of time due to the lack of sunlight, but he guessed that it was about midday. He loathed the wasted time, but given Mia's present condition, he knew there was no alternative.

Mia was feeling better, though her movement was still severely limited. They had another egg, which would last them for at least the rest of the day and the next morning, and they did not want for firewood. Felix, faced with nothing else to do, struggled with the prospect that he would have to make conversation for the entire day. Casual personal relationships were not his strong suit, and such lengthened talking drained him at a level comparable to combat.

"Felix, we're pretty close to Vale, aren't we?" asked Mia.

_Great, _thought Felix, _starting already. _

"Yeah, it's just over the mountains," he said, forcing strained brightness into his voice. "Why?"

"Well, I went there once, with Isaac, before Venus Lighthouse, but we didn't even stay for a day, and Dor… well, Isaac doesn't want us to say what happened. What was it like there, before the boulder fell?"

"Well, I guess I could tell you a story or two."

He thought for a moment, and an uncharacteristically malicious glint entered his eyes.

"Mia, you traveled with Garet and Isaac for a while. Did they ever tell you about the dumbest thing they ever did, at least while I was around?"

"No," said Mia, sitting up and adjusting herself. Embarrassing stories about friends and companions are always interesting, regardless of the circumstances.

"Well," said Felix, "Garet and Isaac were really good friends growing up, and they hung out together all the time. Normally, Isaac kept Garet from doing anything too rash, but one day, just after Garet discovered his Fire Psynergy, they decided to touch the giant Psynergy stone at the center of town. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah," said Mia. "What happened?"

"Garet walked up and touched the stone. Now normally, this would replenish an adult's Psynergy, and even someone as young as Ivan. But Garet, being completely untrained..."

Felix paused for dramatic effect.

"Yes?" asked Mia.

"His Psynergy went off on its own. He turned around to Isaac and said; 'Nothing's happening!' and then he spewed fire right out of his mouth. It hit Isaac's hair dead on! And, every time he opened his mouth, a jet of flame would spurt out. It didn't stop for almost four hours."

"He did not!" exclaimed Mia. "Isaac, bald? I can't imagine it!"

"Oh no, he didn't go bald," said Felix. "Like I said, Isaac is normally on top of things. When his hair caught, he jumped right in the water to put the fire out, but he grabbed the Psynergy stone when he was trying to climb out of the water."

"Oh my…" said Mia. "Can this get any worse?"

"Everything he touched turned to sand. Every time he took a step, the ground turned to sand, and when he opened the door to his house, it turned to sand too."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Mia. "That's easier to clean up than burnt hair. I don't know how your sister does it…"

"It actually did get bad, when he started running, anyway," said Felix.

"Running?" asked Mia, confused.

"Well, I said everything he touched. His clothes disintegrated in ten seconds flat!"

"HIS CLOTHES!" shouted Mia, with a huge open-mouthed smile.

"He ran smack into one of the village elders on the way to his house, and the front of his robes turned to sand too. As if that weren't enough, Garet was right behind him, and when Garet turned to apologize for Isaac, he belched out more fire, and burnt off what was left of the robes! I have never seen so anybody in so much trouble, not in my whole life. I didn't stop giving them grief for that until the day I was taken to Prox."

Mia was at this point overcome with laughter, and it took her several minutes to calm down. She wiped a tear from the side of her eye.

"I can't believe that actually happened. That is soo funny! I can picture Garet doing that, but Isaac? Only the way you put it."

"I wouldn't believe it either, but I was there. I swear to you, it happened."

"If only Imil were that exciting. We can't spend too much time outside there, but once a year, the village celebrates the Moonbeacon Festival. The moon would sit at the top of the Lighthouse, and it looked like the beacon had been lit. There is a little cave on the north side of town, and we keep whatever liquor we come across in there. Several years ago, we convinced my grandfather to drink a little more than his share at the festival. He is nearly bedridden now, but he used to be quite lively. His idea of a good time, to my grandmother's dismay, was to give an impromptu speech to the entire town."

"Did he say something bad?" asked Felix, enjoying the conversation in spite of himself.

"No, he didn't _say _anything bad. But in the middle of a sentence about 'counting our blesshings,' he stopped, and started singing! And he was so lewd! He belted out old bar songs from the days when he sailed the world, from fighting to the most unmentionable topics…"

Mia shuddered.

"He sang a song that he called his 'all-time favorite', and it was about a sailor who marries a prostitute because she is… ah, talented, I suppose, in the bedroom. It's rather explicit. My grandmother nearly beat him to death later."

She paused.

"That story has always reminded me of Garet, in a way" she said impishly.

Felix laughed out loud at this.

"Too true," he said.

They continued to trade stories well into the afternoon, which gave way to evening, and as the stars began to come out, and Felix found that he had opened up to Mia over the day in a way he had not ever warmed to anyone. He found himself telling her silly stories of his childhood, and more private ones, such as the time he spent in Prox between the collapse of the boulder and the eruption. His own honesty scared him, but at the same time, he had been glad to have a friend throughout the day.

Now, though, night returned, and the feelings of the yesterday came creeping back, stalking a perfectly innocent day. As if on cue from Felix's inner thoughts, Mia spoke.

"Felix, can I ask you a question?" she said hesitantly.

"Yes Mia," he replied. "What is it?"

"I may be wrong," she said shyly, "but you don't get along with Isaac very well. Ever since we joined you, Isaac has been… different, and I don't understand it. Did something happen between the two of you?"

Felix's thoughts shifted to darker things, like visions of Isaac broken on the floor, unable even to **_talk _**to his sister. Once again, he felt the urge to tell her the truth, which was a strange thing indeed – not even Jenna knew the real story. Yet he proceeded to tell it.

"It was the night before the boulder fell. I noticed Jenna and Isaac talking a lot, but that wasn't unusual. They were best friends, even better friends than Garet and Isaac were. That night, I couldn't sleep. Jenna and Isaac were sitting on the dock, and Jenna was crying. Isaac was holding her, and I went closer so I could hear. She was telling him things that she had never even shared with me… things about our family."

He broke off.

"She just held on to him for the longest time. Why did that hurt me so much? I don't know. He won't stay away from her."

Felix stopped again, and bit his bottom lip.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this."

He glared fiercely for a moment, burning a hole in the earthen wall in front of him with his eyes.

A minute of silence later, a sniffle from Mia broke Felix's focus – she was crying.

"Mia?" he asked.

Had he said something?

"You came back," she said.

Felix halted. What did she mean by that?

"Why?" she continued. "Why you and not Alex? He was the only family I had, and now…"

Another tear rolled down her cheeks.

Felix froze for a moment. This was a delicate situation.

In a move that surprised even himself, he put his arm around Mia's shoulder. He couldn't think of anything to explain Alex's traitorous actions, so he remained silent as tears flowed from Mia's sapphire eyes. The clouds above occasionally granted a glimpse of a perfect night sky, replete with stars, a scattering of countless diamonds dispersed across a jet-black ocean.

"I'm sorry, Felix," Mia said.

Felix sat in silence, holding the healer tightly. Mia pulled herself closer as her tears splashed onto Felix's shirt. The fire began to dim, and the stars grew brighter and brighter. Felix continued to hold her, but as the fire died, it became cold again. He squeezed her shoulder tightly, and got up to rekindle the fire. Mia pulled her knees up against herself and leaned back on the wall of the hut as she looked up into the night.

"They're beautiful, aren't they? The stars," she said.

"Yeah," replied Felix, as sat back down next to her, "they are."

"Felix…" Mia started, "are they coming back?"

He said nothing for a moment, only continued to look at the stars.

"They will," he said. "I know they will."

Mia leaned her head down on to his shoulder, and in short order began to fall asleep. Her azure hair fell gracefully over her shoulders. Everything about her was graceful, even her tears. She was elegant, but not pompous, dignified, but not pretentious. She was a marvel to behold, and Felix took it in firsthand beneath the stars, from her gentle hands to her angelic skin to the remnant of the tears that rolled down her cheek.

She was beautiful. Felix wished he knew how to tell her that he would rather see her than the stars.

Isaac had grabbed the helm, possessed by a feeling to move, to go, to be heroic in some abstract poetic sense, before he realized that he had no idea where in Weyard he was.

"Kraden!" he called.

A moment later, the wizened old scholar came up out the door to the deck.

"Yes, Isaac, I'm here. What do you need?"

"Do you know where we are?" Isaac asked nonchalantly.

"Um," said Kraden.

_Not good, _thought Isaac.

"Don't move from this spot, Isaac. Let me see if Piers has what I need."

The old man hustled from the deck. Isaac scratched his head and followed at a pace that felt more appropriate to his tired body, as the even the smallest winds stung his blistered hands. Despite the aches in his body, he did feel more rested, and he knew it was urgent to find Felix and Mia as soon as possible. Disregarding the respect he knew that saving Jenna's brother would earn him, the Mercury Adept had gotten their group out of more struggles than he could possibly count. He owed her every ounce of his energy. They all did.

He found Kraden eagerly scouring bookshelves, occasionally pulling a scroll or book or chart and placing it on the table behind him.

"What are you looking for, Kraden?" asked Isaac curiously.

"Another map," said Kraden. "Felix has his ours with him."

"This keeps getting better," said Isaac. "Do we not have any idea where we are? Can we at least get moving in the right direction?"

"So pushy!" joked Kraden. "Go south, but don't go too fast, otherwise we might pass where we were. Try to hug the coast too!"

Isaac was already back at the helm. About fifteen minutes later, a rather large shadow fell over his back, and he turned around to see Garet, whose entire body had taken on a bright red hue, challenging even that of his hair.

"Woah, um… Garet. Your… uh… body… is really red, man."

"Thanks. I didn't notice," he replied sarcastically.

"Nice to have you back," Isaac added, as an apologetic afterthought.

"Appreciate it. Apparently, you're the only one. Jenna tried to give me a five-star, and Sheba laughs every time she sees me."

"That's because your body is redder than your hair! You look like a TOMATO!" taunted Sheba as she walked by.

"Shut up, Sheba!" Garet shot back wearily.

"TO-MA-TO!" she shouted gleefully.

"Where's Ivan?" asked Isaac, ignoring the ruckus.

"He's sleeping still," said Garet. "You should let him rest though. He hasn't had a break since before Magma Rock."

"Good point," Isaac replied.

He paused.

"Did you really get that from the steam?" Isaac asked incredulously.

"Yes! Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Garet growled. "BAH!"

He stomped off into the ship. Isaac rolled his eyes. Obviously, it wasn't just Garet's skin that was sensitive. Isaac reflected on this paradox for a moment, before Kraden interrupted his thoughts.

"Isaac!" the scholar shouted.

He slowed the ship down, and walked into the cabins, where Kraden busied himself with a multitude of various maps and charts.

"We," said Kraden with an air of authority, "are here," as he pointed to a spot on the map. "We may also be here," he said, as he indicated another point rather distant from the other.

"What?" asked Isaac.

"I'm sorry Isaac, but I can't be sure of where we are without the stars. I know we are in one of these two locations, but I can't say which one for sure. That being the case, you should set a course to the southwest, but take it slow. If Felix and Mia made it to land, the currents would have carried them here."

Kraden outlined a small area of what the map indicated to be frozen wasteland to the north of Loho.

"Ah, I see," said Isaac. "You want me to take a course that will put us closest to that spot either way by the time the stars are out."

"Precisely," Kraden remarked.

"You've got it," said Isaac, feeling suddenly empowered by his newfound sense of purpose and direction, quite literally.

"Thanks a bunch, Kraden. Where would we end up without you to guide us?" asked Isaac rhetorically.

"Go pilot our ship," Kraden said, as he waved him away with a laugh.

Isaac took the helm once more, putting all of his faith into the hope that Mia and Felix were alive.

**And that concludes Chapter Five. More sooner or later, and hopefully sooner this time.**


	6. Visions of Angels

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**A little bit of housekeeping before the story continues in earnest:**

**I apologize for the long delay. As you will find, Isaac and Co. do not appear in this chapter. I wanted to at the very least update so that everyone would know I hadn't scrapped the story completely. I was merely having an epic duel with writer's block. Isaac's next sequence should be relatively easy to write, so expect it posted soon.**

**I would also like to take this time to vigorously thank Camelot and Nintendo for making a new game! At long last, the wait is over!**

Tundra

Chapter 6: Visions of Angels

Mia did not sleep well. Visions of the Mercury beacon, Alex's sudden betrayal, Saturos and Merandi, and Hama's prophecy haunted her sleep. She awoke well before Felix, after a particularly vivid dream of the yet unseen pinnacle of Mars lighthouse, breathing heavily.

She had shaken off Felix's cloak through the night, and shivered as the cold wind brushed past her exposed forearms.

Felix stirred beside her. She noticed how closely they had been sleeping, and the butterflies in her stomach took off. She had fallen asleep on his chest, she realized, and the butterflies leapt again. She took a deep breath of the frosty air, and smiled despite their situation. Bleak as their outlook was at the moment, she was happy for the comfort.

Mia did feel that, perhaps, it was wrong to look at Felix in this light, because of her friendship with Jenna, because he was the leader, because…

But she wanted him dearly. Over the past few days, she had come to rely on his quiet strength and compassion to keep her from falling into despair. He was her lifeline, and she would have it no other way. She wanted him to be close to her, to keep her warm, to share in each other's comfort. She pulled his cloak back on top of her and nuzzled back up against Felix, drifting off to pleasant dreams, beautiful dreams.

Felix happened to be in the middle of his own dream. He ran across the plains of snow to the north of Prox, searching for Mars Lighthouse. It had moved elsewhere for some reason, and despite his frantic search, he could not find it. He fell down on his knees in the snow, utterly defeated. The world around him fell out of focus as the extent of his failure dawned on him.

Then, out of the sky, a beam of searingly bright light appeared, and hit the ground with an earth-shattering crash. A figure adorned in white stepped forth from the radiant cloak.

Felix was struck dumb with majesty. Every inch of the creature was arresting, alluring, a picture of perfection. It was feminine, with long, white hair, slender arms, and had the grace to make angels jealous. Her entire body shone brighter than the beacons.

She approached Felix, who, although trembling, did not back away. She held out her hand, picked him up from the snow, and with the slightest tug, pulled Felix along with her.

For a very long time, they walked through seemingly identical snowdrifts, though the feminine creature seemed to have a purposeful direction. She said nothing, only held Felix's hand as he followed her through the barren snowfield. Then, when they came to the summit of another small hill, a huge tower of red steel loomed before them. Felix's heart jumped for joy. The snowfall slowed, and then halted, as Felix tried to spot his friends on the top.

"FELIX!" came a voice from the aerie.

It was Mia. Felix tried to shout back, but the response was only another call of his name.

"FELIX!" she cried out.

He started to sprint into the tower, only to remember the mysterious individual (or was it a spirit?) who had been his guide through the snow. He turned around to thank her for bringing him back to his friends, back to Mia, but all Felix saw was the back of her blinding white robes losing their brilliance, and fading into the snow.

"FELIX!"

He heard Mia's clear voice again, and he sprinted into the lighthouse. Then, to his amazement, Mia met him at the bottom.

"Mia…" he whispered.

Their faces drew closer together, and Mia put her hand around his back as she tugged him closer to her. Felix felt his heart begin to race, as sensations unfathomable flew through his body.

"Felix," Mia said again. "Felix…"

The young man awoke then, and Mia's face was almost as close to him as it had been in his dream. His heartbeat had not yet slowed.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as she drew her face back. "You finally woke up!"

Felix felt a stab of disappointment somewhere inside his ribs. He would have preferred to finish that dream.

"Good morning, Mia."

He shook his head to wake himself.

"I see you're up and moving around more. How are you feeling?" he inquired.

"Much better, thanks to you," she, with a hinting smile playing around the ends of her lips. Felix felt himself melt as he looked at those fair lips...

"Oh, well," stuttered Felix, growing slightly red around the ears, "of course."

He shifted his body in an attempt to recover himself.

"How is your wound?" he asked.

"It feels better, but I haven't looked. I don't trust my fingers to open it back up. Could you help?"

Felix obliged, kneeling down at her side. Once again, he examined her wound with delicacy and tenderness that amazed her. It was in such stark contrast with the powerful and demonstrative person he was in battle – that there could be so many parts of one person only made Felix more desirable.

Felix then pulled her shirt back down, announcing that all was well. He excused himself, saying he was leaving to get firewood and food, and left the hut with his Sand Psynergy. Mia was left to her thoughts, wondering if she should tell him how she felt, and what the consequences would be in either case.

Felix returned about an hour later, with more firewood, and this time a green bird that was about half as tall as his Sol Blade, which hit the ground with a thud as he rematerialized from the sand buried deep within the ground.

"This should last us a while," stated Felix, with a hint of satisfied smugness.

"Wow," gaped Mia. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"Want to eat some of it?" she probed, raising her eyebrows.

"I thought you weren't going to ask," Felix replied.

They cleaned it as best they could, and then held the legs over the fire to cook.

"How did you find anything alive up here?" asked Mia, as she turned her phoenix leg over atop the flames.

"I don't know. I just went back to the place where I found the eggs, and instead I found this walking around. It looks like it's just a child. It got me on the arm pretty good, though."

He rolled his sleeve back to reveal the healed remains of a slice through his left tricep.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mia. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Felix asserted, with a tone that hinted at exasperation but yet almost sounded like he was teasing.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it doesn't even hurt."

"I can still help make sure it doesn't get infected, here..."

Felix felt the Psynergy course through his body, cleansing it of any toxins.

"That power always amazes me," he said. "It's so much more potent than mine."

"That's one of the oldest Psynergies of my clan. The creatures around Imil are quite poisonous. The old stories say that my clan is one of the remnants of the great civilizations of the former age, and that they passed down the last remnants of our arts."

"That sounds interesting," said Felix. "Can I hear the whole story?"

"Sure," said Mia.

She took a moment to collect her thoughts, and began to spin her tale with the ease of a person who has told a story many times before.

"Long ago, before the power of Ply was sealed away, my clan had long mastered the arts of healing the body. Our clan was widespread, strong, and prosperous. Then, wars broke out across the land. Unspeakable hurt befell the people, most of them innocents. The wisest of Weyard's leaders convened, and, seeing no other alternative before them, sealed away the power of Alchemy. Even the most powerful Adepts were left with a fraction of their former strength.

Years passed, and many of the greatest healers of Imil fell into death. Our people, all of whom had once been Adepts to some degree, slowly lost their power, until it only remained with a select few. My clan.

For generations since then, there have been two healers, one male, one female. It is the way of things, and it was, until … Alex left with Menardi and Saturos, an unbroken heritage. We try to pass on what we can from master to student, but with each generation, more and more knowledge is lost, and forever unobtainable, unless we break the seal. Doing so goes against our greatest tradition, but yet I know in my heart I must."

She paused.

"Felix, everything used to be simple," sighed Mia. "It was not easy to survive in Imil, but it was simple. I think I prefer that. No, I know I prefer that."

Her words struck a chord in Felix. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to be close to someone, but now that he had, he couldn't believe the depth of his understanding for how Mia felt. After all, Felix had not had a simple life since he awoke to the sight of Menardi and Saturos, after they had rescued him from the river. He had deceived his friends and family, allowing them to believe that he had died. He had nothing but empathy for Mia.

"Yeah," said Felix. He gazed off into space, wondering where his friends were, confident that he would soon hear their voices calling out across the snowswept plains.

Mia found her thoughts in the same place. She did not, however, feel the confidence that Felix exuded quite so keenly. Harrowing visions of death on the ice came bursting forth with startling ferocity. She imagined the fire going out, after several weeks of waiting on the frozen ice. Her imagination dragged her away, telling her that her friends were all at the bottom of the sea, lain to waste by the storm.

"Mia," Felix said gently, as he shook her by the shoulder.

Mia looked up from the bottom of her shirt, which had collected a small puddle of tears.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not strong like you, Felix. Where are they? I can't help thinking that they aren't coming, that our ship is at the bottom of the ocean, that we're going to die here. I don't want to die yet."

"It won't be much longer," Felix said. "Whatever is keeping them is important. They won't abandon us out here. I know they're alive. I know it."

Mia shifted her gaze to the ground, wanting to believe him. She sat next to him silently, trying to purge the images of her companions forever lost to the ocean. Try as she might, they would not cease. Eventually, she stood up in their hut, and began to try to walk around after her long stint of motionlessness.

"Mia?" inquired Felix.

"I can't stand sitting here anymore," she growled. "I have to move. I'll go crazy if I don't."

She walked four hesitant steps from one side of their hut to the other, Felix behind her the whole way, waiting to catch her if she were to fall. She touched the wall at the end of her trek, and plopped back down.

"Ah," she said, as she struggled to catch her breath.

"We can go outside if you want to," said Felix. "It will be easier that way."

Mia concentrated on two more deep breaths before nodding to Felix in reply. He used his Psynergy to take them outside, and they spent the remainder of the afternoon walking and eating the occasional portion of the bird. Afternoon came and went, and soon Mia began to wear out.

"Let's go back inside, Felix," she said. "I've done about all I can."

He brought them back into the hut, and Mia sat down delicately. As Felix prepared their dinner, he assessed their situation.

They had enough food for about three more days, if they were careful, and enough wood to last for a month. However, the cold was quickly becoming a problem. Jupiter's intensified powers would make it impossible to reach Prox before too much longer, and that was assuming they still had a ship. He scowled in discontent, refusing to concede his waking hours, as well as his sleep, to his nightmares. His nightmares…

Why did Mia play a role in every single dream of his? Perhaps it was the cold getting to his head, but Felix wondered if he could possibly be falling in… He couldn't say the word. To admit it would be to act on it. Yet still, each time he thought of her, he felt the addition of a great weight in his chest, and yet at the same time, a similar burden was lifted. It was a compelling feeling, one that begged to be released. Let me go, it seemed to say. Let me be free. I DESIRE it.

Felix couldn't take it any longer. He had to tell Mia, lest the power of this emotion were to crush him.

"Mia," he began…


	7. Still Just Human

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners. **

**I was kind of hoping for some kind of review on the aesthetic qualities of the last chapter. That whole dream bit was certainly unplanned, but it flowed easily. Any thoughts?**

**And, I'm trying something new. I'm begging for a review before you start reading. If you looked at this, and took the valuable time out of your day, please. PLEASE. PLEEEEEEEEEASSE! Take two seconds to drop me a review. I don't care what it says. It can say, "This sucks, I want a cookie for wasting my time on this crap." I don't care. Anonymous? Don't care. Just let me know you read it. Can I be any less subtle? Probably not.**

**OK, that is all, enjoy this latest installment, and sorry for the delay! (PS: As I write this, I can't help but notice that this sucks. Sorry to everyone who wants this to be really good. I promise the next one will be better.)**

Tundra

Chapter 7: Still Just Human

Six and a half hours later, Isaac was still grinding south at a painfully slow pace. At Kraden's request, he had gone slowly until the stars had come out. Half an hour since then, Kraden, the luminary student of Alchemy, had yet to reach a decision about their current location. Isaac groaned aloud in frustration.

Ivan, who sat between Sheba and a Boy-Resembling-A-Tomato on the edge of the boat, grunted in agreement. He had risen from slumber only about an hour ago, but, being the youngest, had lost his patience for inactivity quite quickly.

"Can I get food?" asked Jenna through a yawn.

"Yeah, can we get food?" echoed Garet robotically.

"No," Piers and Isaac replied simultaneously.

"AAAHHH!" cried Sheba. "We've had this same conversation five times now! Stop it! I can't take the whipped cream part one more time! I'll go crazy!"

"Too late?" Ivan whispered to Garet, who valiantly struggled and failed to stifle a loud guffaw. He snorted once, and lost his composure. His fragile mental state lost what structure it had retained through the storm, and suddenly, Garet found himself reduced to a slap-happy idiot. As unusual as this was, the fact that nobody around him responded to his sudden loss of sanity proved that they were on the brink themselves, after two days of almost total sleeplessness. Just as Ivan began contemplating joining Garet in the lands of mania, Kraden emerged from the door.

"I know where we are!" he shouted with joy.

This caused a slight stir amongst the young. Isaac turned around, while Sheba and Piers (the sanest of the bunch) stood up. Jenna cocked her head upward. Ivan became almost giddy with activity, while Garet laughed dementedly on the bench.

"WHIPPED CREAM!" he exclaimed, laughing maniacally.

He snorted once again and looked up.

"Did somebody say something?" he asked stupidly.

"I did," said a dejected Kraden. "I know you guys are feeling a little tired, but I just spent hours looking at maps and charts and stars. I'm exhausted."

"Sorry," murmured the group, embarrassed.

"So, can we move along?" inquired Kraden.

"Ahhh," yawned Isaac, stretching as he got up. "Let's do it. Where are we going, Kraden?"

"We are about six hours from the place I expect them to have landed, assuming they're alright. Make these course adjustments here…"

Kraden handed Isaac a sheet of paper dotted with an assortment of letters, numbers and vectors. To everyone in the group who scrutinized the paper (excluding Piers, Kraden, and Isaac), the paper was a bunch of meaningless scribbles. Piers, however, raised an eyebrow, Isaac's brow furrowed, and they both looked at Kraden.

"That can't be right," stated Piers. "That's in the wrong direction. That will take us directly south. We want to end up south east of here."

"I know that!" said Kraden indignantly, "But this will take us with the currents. I promise I did this right. I checked it twice."

Isaac shrugged.

"If you say so…"

He opened his mouth again in a wide yawn.

"How much have you slept, Isaac?" asked Kraden.

"Um?" the adept replied, not wanting to admit his obvious deprivation.

"I thought so," said Kraden. "Would anyone else be willing to pilot the ship while our fearless leader gets some shut-eye?"

"I will," volunteered Piers. "I've slept well enough."

Isaac thanked Piers with a nod, and headed inside, following Ivan and Sheba.

Jenna fell in line behind them, watching her shuffling feet and Isaac alternately. She had been thinking about her encounter with Sheba and Kraden, and Kraden's choice of words. Why had he said "we all?" It wasn't as though the entire ship was interested in her and Isaac, was it?

Besides, she affirmed to herself, as she turned toward her room of the ship, there was nothing going on between her and Isaac besides friendship. Nothing at all. Really. Isaac wasn't interested in anything else, and he would never be. They were just good friends, and she was perfectly happy with that. Jenna nodded in agreement with herself. It was then, as she opened the door to her room, that she realized that she didn't know whom she was trying to convince.

She then lay across her bed on her stomach, muddled in discontent. Her knees hung just off the edge, with her feet crossed. She kicked her legs up and down in a slow, steady rhythm, staring intently at the floor below her on the other side of the bed. She weaved her fingers together absent-mindedly as she sat on the bed. She didn't move herself for a long time.

She looked out the window of her room, and saw the beautiful night sky, though it didn't mean much to her right now. Stupid boys, Felix and Isaac both. Felix had already died on her once, and then he had to get blown off of the ship. Then, Isaac had to insist on following her brother too closely down that path for her comfort. Why didn't either of them care if their actions hurt her like they did? Wasn't it obvious that she cared about them?

Then, in the most honest moment of her life, Jenna realized that it wasn't obvious. She didn't show gratitude very well, or affection. She hadn't hugged her brother since… Magma Rock? Maybe?

At that point, tears started flowing freely down her cheeks. What if Felix was dead, and she hadn't said goodbye? She buried her head into her pillow, half in shame, and half to hide her sobs. She smelled the salt in her tears as her pillow soaked them up. At least Isaac was still here. She would have to make it up to him soon. Then, she cut herself off as she heard a knock from the door behind her.

"Hey, you," came Sheba's voice. "You in there?"

".._Sniff_.. Yes."

"Can I come in?" she asked gently.

Sheba listened for a moment, and was about to leave Jenna alone when she heard a small noise from inside.

"Please…"

"What's the matter, hun?" probed Sheba, as she pushed the door shut behind her. "You've been crying."

"Sheba, am I… nice?" asked Jenna as she pulled herself up.

"What do you mean by that?" replied Sheba, as she sat down next to her on the bed.

"I don't let people know that I care, do I?"

"Of course you do," she said, hoping to prop up Jenna's dignity. "You just do it… differently than most people."

It didn't quite work as well as she hoped. Jenna began crying again, and put her head on Sheba's shoulder. Sheba grimaced as she wrapped her arms around Jenna and gave her a tight hug.

"Sheba, I never said goodbye to Felix! What if he didn't make it?" she wailed.

"Don't say that!" exclaimed Sheba. "He made it, I know he did. Felix works well in the water, for a Venus adept. He saved me when he jumped from the top of Venus Lighthouse, remember? And this time, he has Mia with him. They will be ok, I'm sure of it."

Jenna's expression softened a little at this.

"I'm still not very nice…"

"You are too! And if anyone says you aren't nice, I'll zap them so bad their hair will burn."

Her frown hung on for a second, and then lost control as a smile spread across her face.

"Thanks for talking to me," said Jenna.

"For you? Of course," said Sheba brightly.

"What should I do though? I want to do something nice. What should I do?" asked Jenna.

"Well, you could always bring Isaac something to eat," replied Sheba, with a wink and a nudge.

"I never said anything about Isaac!" Jenna said indignantly.

"You're not denying anything about Isaac, either," taunted Sheba.

"This is not fair!" Jenna moaned. "You can't come in and be nice to me and then make fun of me! You promised you wouldn't bring that up!"

"Sorry, Jenna," said Sheba, wiping away the grin. "Who would you like to do something nice for then?"

"Umm…."

"Isaac?" Sheba interjected helpfully, the grin back in full.

"HEY!" Jenna cried.

"I'll let you think about it, then," said Sheba, as she got up and scampered toward the door.

Jenna stood up to reach after the girl, but Sheba was much faster than Jenna, and was out the door in a heartbeat. Jenna sat back down, arms folded across her lap. There was no way she was going to make food for Isaac. No way.

Half an hour later, Kraden, who was resting on the couch in the main room, lifted his eyes from his book to see Jenna stealthily carrying a tray with two bowls of soup down to the rooms.

_She must be really hungry,_ thought Kraden.

_What's been going on between Jenna and me lately?_ Isaac wondered across the hall.

Not only had she been acting very strange, she had also APOLOGIZED to him. That alone struck him as suspicious, not to mention that Sheba was always giggling whenever they talked to each other. Sheba and Jenna were the closest pair of friends on the boat, except maybe Ivan and Garet. What did Sheba know that she was always laughing about? It seemed rather rude that she would laugh like that in the first place. Maybe, he reasoned, Sheba had been reading his thoughts while he slept. Could Sheba even do that? Not that it bothered him. He just didn't want to be the butt of a joke. Really. It didn't matter what Jenna's thoughts were, just why she was acting strange. He wasn't kidding, either. Strangely enough, Isaac, too, fell into his bed unhappily.

Who was he kidding? He had liked Jenna for as long as he could remember liking girls. He had worked hard to try to stop liking her so that he could save their friendship, but… Some days he was better at putting those feelings away than others. Maybe it was his fault. Maybe they knew had always liked her, and that was why she was being weird.

Stupid girls. Why were they always so weird and confusing? They never did anything nice, and they were always teasing. At least, it seemed that way to Isaac. He felt like he was being played. Girls teased so often that it was next to impossible to tell when they were being sincere, which was why Isaac was for a moment tempted to slam the door in Jenna's face when she knocked, carrying a bowl of soup for each of them.

"I don't mean to sound rude," said Isaac, in between spoonfuls of soup, "but why did you bring me soup?"

"What, I can't be nice?" said Jenna, slight affronted by his question.

"I'm not saying that, it's just a rare occasion."

Jenna was tempted to hit him in the face, but she wanted to prove that she could be nice.

"Well, I just wanted to do something nice for you, so I brought you soup," she said, careful not to let any sound of anger enter her voice.

"I do appreciate it," said Isaac. "Thank you."

"Sure!" said Jenna, smiling a little bit.

Sheba, who had her ear to the door, smiled. Things seemed to be going well enough to leave the immediate vicinity. She walked back down the hall to Ivan's room, where Garet and Ivan sat laughing. They immediately focused their attention on Sheba, who did a happy little jump-step as she came in.

"So," said Garet, "what happened? Did he let her in?"

"Yes," said Sheba.

Garet grinned and looked over at Ivan, who reluctantly put his hand into his pocket and dug out a few gold coins.

"Did he say something stupid within ten seconds?" asked Ivan.

"Yes," said Sheba again.

"Ha!" shouted Ivan jubilantly. "I'll take those back, thank you."

Garet scowled and returned the coins to Ivan.

"Don't you want to know what happened after he said that?" inquired Sheba.

"Did she hit him?" asked Garet.

"No way," said Ivan.

"Same bet?" asked Garet.

"Double," said Ivan confidently.

"Ha! You're on!"

He shook Ivan's hand.

"So, did she smack him or not, Sheba?" Garet asked eagerly.

"You really aren't too smart, are you?" Ivan asked, turning toward Garet.

"What are you talking about?" returned Garet.

"Do you really think Sheba would have been smiling if Jenna hit him? That would set us all back."

"Oh…" said Garet, as realization dawned on him.

"Pay up, Garet," confirmed Sheba.

He dug his own coins out of his pocket, and put them in Ivan's hand with a bitter scowl.

_Boys,_ thought Sheba, as she walked out.

**What is a "yawn" sound? Because it certainly is not "Ahhh." I just didn't have a clue….**

**And every time I write that y- word, I y-. Not a fun chapter to write while you're sleepy.**

**I thought that Sheba was being really manipulative in this chapter. How did I even come up with that?**

**So, that is all for this chapter, folks. Hopefully, this wasn't too horrible, but it was definitely not my best work. PLEEASE, I'm begging you, if you took the time to read this, write a review, even if all it says is "This sucks, I want a cookie for putting up with it."**


	8. Darkness and Dawn

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**If you are reading this, please leave me even a one word review (Sucks, bad, good, average, dumb, whatever). I like to know that it isn't just my siblings who read my stories. Puh-leez...**

**Thank you to: CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas for reviewing! You guys are all awesome, especially for giving me advice!**

**Now, here is the story. I've been working on this chapter for a while now, and while it isn't the best I've ever written, I'm not upset with it. Feedback please!**

Tundra

Chapter 8: Darkness and Dawn

"Mia," Felix began.

"Yes, Felix?" she asked.

"Mia, I need..."

The walls of their hut suddenly shook under force comparable to that of an earthquake. Felix instantly leapt to his feet, his hand dropping to his belt out of reflex, only to find it devoid of a sword. Ironically, he had left his weapon inside the ship, which had occurred to him as he made his way to the deck before the storm. Now, he supposed he should consider himself lucky that his weapon wasn't at the bottom of the Western Sea.

The hut shook violently again, and a Felix felt his Psynergy protection flare up as a bolt of flame burst through the earthen walls with a fury, sending him, Mia, and the remnants of their faithful shelter flying back through the air. He put his hands in front of his face to protect his eyes, and when the fire cleared, he found himself on his back and facing an enormous, livid pair of phoenixes.

"Of course… the eggs and the other bird," thought Felix. "They must be the parents."

He chanced a glance behind him to look for Mia. Felix felt a bit of his life drain away as he saw Mia's leg trapped beneath a heavy earthen block from their shelter, totally helpless before their rabid enemies.

"Felix!" she yelled. "I can't move!"

"Hang on," he growled.

His mindset of leadership and protection set in, and he adjusted his battle strategy to compensate for shielding Mia, for his lack of Djinn, and for his lack of a weapon. His first move seemed obvious.

"Ragnarok!" he bellowed.

The swords pierced one of the two creatures, and, though it began to bleed, it keened loudly, and summoned a giant being, half man and half boar. Felix bit his bottom lip in frustration and fear. Nothing could happen to Mia, nothing could happen to Mia, nothing could happen to…

He focused his Psynergy again, and opened up a great rift in the earth, from which poured a powerful barrage of rock. All three of the enemies growled in pain, but Felix took the full force of their attacks in exchange for presenting himself as a target. The cold wind bit at his skin and limbs, while his physical energy drained rapidly from the attacks of the berserk animals.

He cast Ragnarok again, and this time the phoenix fell to the ground, lifeless. With that attack successful, Felix repositioned himself as a barrier in between the path of the two remaining creatures and Mia. The other phoenix attacked him again, and Felix countered with another onslaught of stone as he dodged the blow from its razor-sharp talons. The bird fell.

Then, his foot caught on something, a stray piece of ice or perhaps a rock, but he felt himself lose his balance, struggle to retain it, and fail.

"NO!" his mind screamed, as he careened into the snow.

He pulled himself back up as quickly as he could, accelerating toward Mia's powerless figure, but the giant creature was already in between him and Mia. He felt a metaphorical axe the size of the beast's cleave his chest in two. What could he do?

In a fraction of a second, Felix examined the environment. There was no time to cast, and there was nothing to throw. He had no Djinn with him. She was going to die, at expense of his failure. The fiend picked up speed, charging toward the Imilian's defenseless figure. At that moment, in the midst of crisis, Felix bore witness to the incredible.

The wind, up to this moment fairly calm after the storm, picked up to a ferocious gale. Everything seemed to lose color, as though it were bleeding out of a bleached piece of fabric. The lost color, instead of becoming gray, was replaced by a soft, but glowing, cerulean hue. The woman from his dream appeared, five feet in the air, in between Mia and the minotaur. She was clad in white again, though not quite so blindingly as before.

It was then that Felix recognized the face. The same one adorned the Ply statue that was housed in the center of Mercury Lighthouse.

_BEGONE, BEAST,_the woman uttered majestically.

Felix struggled to remain standing. The power of her voice was undeniable and omnipresent. As such, Felix felt an urge to remove himself from her vicinity. He didn't deserve to be here. This woman was a greater being than him, much greater. Her consciousness enforced itself on everything around her, attacking Felix's mind at all angles.

Then, just as he was about to run away, the apparition vanished. Felix fell to his knees, feeling as though he had run a marathon twice over.

A ragged breath or two escaped his lips. As his sense of reality returned, his first immediate thought came rushing out of his mouth.

"MIA!" he screamed, as he rushed over to her.

Her leg was completely covered by the block of ice-encased earth, and her face was twisted with pain. She bit her lip, struggling to contain a whimper of agony.

Felix's adrenaline levels spiked again, and his body began to glow with Psynergy.

_Lift... _

The giant rock was stubborn and slow to move. Felix focused on not disturbing Mia's leg, and she was able to pull herself free from the rock. As soon as she was clear, Felix, whose eyes were tightened in focus, let the giant stone fall to the ground with a resounding crash. He bent over slightly, having lost his wind.

"Is it broken?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so," Mia said with a wince, "It just feels bruised, but I can't tell."

She made a move to stand up, which Felix immediately curtailed.

"Wait," he said strongly. "I'm going to rebuild our little hut, and then we'll check your leg."

Not five minutes later, they had new lodgings.

"Come on in," said Felix. "I made a door this time."

He used his Psynergy to open up one of the walls with a hinge on the side. Mia cracked a tiny smile at this, as he lifted her up to her feet, put her arm around his shoulder, and brought her inside.

He put her down along the wall, and after starting a fire brought sat down next to her.

"Let's have a look at your leg," he said.

Mia nodded, and slowly began to pull up the hem of her robe and the layer beneath. As soon as her leg became visible, she wished that she had looked at it herself first – the entire surface of her skin was a spattering of purple, green, and blue hues, and the area above her kneecap had swelled up extensively. She tried not to blanch as Felix slowly and carefully checked her leg for breaks.

"It's not broken," sighed Felix, with evident relief.

"That's good," Mia agreed.

"I should probably heal it though."

His body pulsed with a blue-white glow, and Mia felt the earthen energies seep into her body, alleviating the pain in her thigh. She sighed audibly.

It was silent for a moment, until Mia spoke what both of them had obviously been thinking.

"Felix," she asked hesitantly, "did you see…well, what I saw?"

"I don't know, but I had a dream about her the other night."

"What?" Mia replied in astonishment.

"Yeah. I was looking for Mars Lighthouse, and I was lost. Then, when I was about to give up, she found me and led me to the base."

Mia had no response.

"And after today, I noticed that she looked like the giant statue who Ale… I mean, who we spoke to in Mercury Lighthouse when I was still with Saturos and Menardi, right before we ascended."

"Ply…" Mia whispered to herself.

"What?"

"Ply," she said again, this time clearly. "The angel. That's her statue in the Mercury Lighthouse. She founded Imil, and helped seal away the elements. Then, she became… a part of the Lighthouse, which is why only members of my clan can enter. Only her descendants have the power of Ply…"

She faltered.

"How…" asked Felix.

"I don't know," replied Mia. "I've never heard of this before. Her spirit has never spoken to anyone, as far as I know, except to those who seek to climb the Lighthouse… Only within the Lighthouse..."

Mia's words faded into thoughts. Her mind jumped hyperactively from one theory to another, from one conclusion to the next. Why had she appeared here? Was it because of the ignition of the beacon? And why, then, had she appeared to Felix in a dream? Why not to her, a member of the Mercury clan? And at that, how had she appeared in the first place? It wasn't as though she had been a ghost. She had certainly been corporeal, or as much so as an angel-among-angels could be. Why…?

Mia felt a lurching sense of despair grip her, as though the end of her life was rushing up to meet her, like fire raining from the sky. She buried her face into Felix's shoulder, and cried, the fear of the past several days boiling over again. Felix held her closely as her breathing leveled off, and then drifted off into a tormented sleep of his own, as the dark outside enveloped his weary mind.

He was on the open ice again. He searched for hours, looking for any sign of the Lighthouse, or of the Angel, but he found none. Then, as he stood staring through the frigid winds, a flash of light from off in the distance pierced through the thick snow. He trudged purposefully through the snow again, eager to once more see the Angel. However, as he walked, the graceful woman did not appear to him.

Where was she? Where had she gone? He had seen light, and it had to be hers. What else would carve through the bleakness around him, the dark?

_FELIX._

It was her! Felix stumbled toward the source of the mellifluous voice. His hands sank elbow-deep into the snow as he tripped in his hurry. He didn't notice the icy sting on his fingers as he staggered toward her.

He fell to his knees as the graceful figure came before him. His body acted on his own, as though he had no choice.

_Rise, child,_ she said.

Felix pulled himself up to his feet, gazing at the serene woman while carefully avoiding her face. He wasn't worthy to look her in the eye. It seemed inappropriate to breath in her presence, much less to catch even a glimpse of her face.

_Do not belittle your worth, hero,_ said the angel with a melodious voice. _Your actions thus far are worthy of praise, and behold me you may, or else I would not have come here._

Felix didn't even bother considering how she had read his mind like a book, but raised his eyes apprehensively.

_With me, _she continued,_ I bring a message, a warning. You speed headlong into rapid waters, seas in storm. You float along a troubled river, and the worst is yet to come._

He watched intently, expressionless.

_In the trials ahead, Felix, you will be gravely tested, but you must protect her. In this, you must not fail. I see your heart, champion, and I know what drives you, as you know yourself. Bring your heart with you when you ascend the Lighthouse, and it will guide you. Do not forget this. Keep her safe._

Once again, Felix heard a friendly voice as the landscape began to fade away. This time, though, the voice mixed with several others, shouting his name intermittently. One voice rose above the others.

"FE-LIX!" it echoed.

It was a feminine voice. Several male voices followed it. They seemed familiar.

Felix opened his eyes, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He jumped to his feet and pushed the door away. He stood in the doorway, straining his ears for sound.

"FE-LIX!" the girl's voice yelled again.

Felix felt his heart fly out of his chest.

"JENNA!" he shouted with glee.

Mia stirred beside him. He leaned down and shook her awake.

"Mia, wake up!" he gleamed.

"H-huh?" she murmured.

"Mia, wake up, they're here! They found us!"

She stood up as though struck by lightning. She walked out of the hut just in time to see the faces of her friends rise above the snow bank with the dawning sun.

**So, the end of this chapter. Please, leave a review to tell me what you thought, especially about the dialogue. I think my dialogue feels fake sometimes, and it's definitely the weakest aspect of my writing, barring my update frequency. Any thoughts?**

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**Seriously, review.**

**Thanks a bunch for reading this! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it!**


	9. Misuse and Mistakes

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**Thanks so much to MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas for reviewing! You guys are all so awesome!**

**If you haven't already done it, you should review. You know you want to be a part of ^**this elite group**^. I still have more than a few chapters to go!**

**Also, to everyone who has been following this one (as there are actually people who have followed this!): I'm sorry that this update has taken so long. I've been extraordinarily busy lately, especially with the end of my senior year of football. Thank you so much for your patience and your enthusiasm! Here's a relatively long chapter, with more to come!**

**IMPORTANTE!**

**A/N: This chapter takes place ****_BEFORE _****the rescue of Felix and Mia.**

Tundra

Chapter 9: Misuse and Mistakes

"Garet!" exclaimed Sheba. "Be quiet! Isaac is still sleeping."

"Heh heh, sorry," Garet snorted, as he sat back down on the bed opposite Sheba's.

Sheba, Ivan, and Garet had congregated in her and Jenna's room, at Sheba's request. She would rather not have the boys in her room, but she knew better than to set foot in the disaster area that they called their quarters. Garet made for more than his share of the groups' dank laundry, but Ivan was surprisingly sweaty too. And, being boys, they often left their clothes on the floor, which gave them time to fester and stink up the whole floor. That place was disease waiting to happen. Sheba found herself disgusted with boys in general.

"I'm starting to regret letting you in here," she threatened.

"Ok, ok, let's get to work then," said Ivan hastily. "What I want to know is if this Jenna and Isaac thing is going to happen at all. They're moving so slowly, and with everybody trying to help them along, too!"

"They couldn't be any more timid," Sheba agreed.

"Was that their first date?" Garet asked.

"I don't think so," said Ivan. "I don't think it counts because she didn't ask him if he wanted to actually 'do something.'"

"It _could_ be–" faltered Sheba. "Actually… I don't know – maybe?"

She scowled.

"We could just lock them in a room together and see how long it takes for them to start doing something," suggested Garet.

"Because that wouldn't be obvious at all," said Sheba, with dripping amounts of sarcasm.

"You aren't disagreeing with him," countered Ivan.

"Shut it," glowered Sheba. "I am now. I do _not _think that we should lock them in a room to see if they do anything, for the record."

"I don't have anything else, then," said Garet.

"Come on, somebody has to have something," begged Ivan.

Everyone was silent for a moment, dedicated to their mission to bring their two friends together. It was silent for at least a minute, when Sheba finally spoke up.

"I think… I _might _have a plan. But we need everybody in on it."

About an hour later, Jenna walked into her room, where Sheba sat on her bed, writing in a small journal. The blond girl smiled brightly as Jenna entered.

"Hey you!" said Sheba.

"Have you ever talked to Piers before?" Jenna asked excitedly. "He told me some stories about Lemuria! It's so amazing, the stuff they've done there! He was telling me about how they make the ships and stuff and how there's like fifty people who use Psynergy to make the little black orbs and…"

She took a breath.

"Hi," she finally said.

Sheba giggled.

"Someone's excited."

"But it's so-"

Jenna sniffed the air.

"Why does it smell so bad in here?" she asked. "It smells like old socks. Like Garet."

Sheba grimaced inwardly. She hadn't actually been writing before Jenna came down the steps. She had been trying to discreetly get rid of the smell of Garet's horrible, unwashed clothing by shoveling it out of the small hatch in her and Jenna's room with her Psynergy. Apparently, it hadn't worked quite as well as she had hoped. Sheba improvised quickly.

"I think they must have snuck in here sometime and put something in here. It's not like we've let them in."

"Yeah, you're probably right. … That's so _rude_! Why would they do that?" exclaimed Jenna.

She sniffed furiously.

"Boys," she growled.

Sheba's relationship alarms wailed like so many screaming toddlers. If Jenna kept up on the "I hate boys" angle, she would take it out on Isaac too.

"Not all boys are bad, Jenna," she said, feeling quite hypocritical, as she knew that she had used that exact same curse several times in the past couple days. She wondered how she was going to get out of this mess.

Jenna looked at Sheba fiercely.

"Oh yeah? I don't think so. No boy is ever nice. Ever."

"Felix is," said Sheba.

She didn't think that Jenna would group Isaac with Felix, but it was worth a shot.

"Hmph," was Jenna's only reply.

_I'll give her a little bit to get over it..._ thought Sheba. _It's all my fault, too, I let the boys in here. If she ever finds out, she's gonna hate me for it. Maybe I should just tell her the truth... _

But, before she could say anything, Jenna left the room, slamming the door behind her. Sheba followed her fleetly, though less boisterously. Jenna made her way to the boys' rooms very quickly, and pounded through the door before Sheba could stop her.

"_Why… were you in… my room…" _said Jenna menacingly, her chin shivering as she finished her sentence.

Sheba could only watch the scene before her unfold. She was too far behind to stop it. Ivan and Garet stopped what they were doing immediately. Sheba cringed and looked away as Garet, who had ironically been cleaning up his room, glanced at Ivan, saying, "Busted…"

Sheba didn't stick around for the verbal (and, if bruises were anything to judge by, physical) abuse that followed. Instead, she scurried out on to the deck where Piers steered the boat, patient and content as always.

"So, Piers, I don't think I've…" she began.

"Don't ask me how old I am, please," said Piers with a grin.

"…told you about Jenna yet," she finished.

"You were most certainly about to ask how old I am. Again."

Sheba tried to act hurt, but she couldn't be too upset; it was partially true. It happened in just about every conversation she had with Piers. It was like a small inside joke, and she loved that.

"Don't mess around with me like that, please," said Piers, still being very patient. "But what's this about Jenna now?"

"Oh, nothing really- it's just… nothing really… but- anyway, Piers, did you ever have, well, uh- a girlfriend back in Lemuria?"

"That seems unconnected," Piers replied quizzically, "but no, I did not, for two reasons. First, my service to King Hydros would not allow me the luxury of taking a relationship. Second, and more importantly, there were very few women around who were even within a generation of my own age."

"Within your generation?"

"Yes, my mother was one of the few parents to have a child at that time."

"But you were already pretty grown up when Donpa and Babi arrived, right?"

"Stop it, Sheba," Piers warned.

Sheba felt a small little pain growing inside her chest. She was trying very hard with everyone, but she was making all of her relationships worse, and those of everyone around her. None of her small little goals, as pointless as she knew they sometimes were, had been accomplished. She stomped her foot in an angry, childish outburst.

"PLEASE, PIERS! Just tell me how old you are! Jenna and Isaac won't _ever _get together, we don't know where Felix and Mia are, and Jenna's about to get angry at me for trying to help her! I can't win at anything today…"

"I am very sorry that your attempts to manipulate your friends are going badly, Sheba," said Piers coolly, "but you will not discover my age today, and if I were you, I would apologize to Jenna _before _she has a chance to get angry at you."

He turned around and looked out past the edge of the boat. Though there was a slight fog, the edge of the ice flow Kraden had mapped out for them was finally visible.

"We'll be there in fifteen minutes," said Piers curtly, without turning around. "Be ready, please."

Sheba stared at Piers for a moment, bewildered. She didn't know what she had done to warrant such sharp rebukes from the most patient member of the group. Sheba roused Isaac, asking him to tell everyone else to get ready, and then followed the example of Jenna, maintaining the status quo until she arrived in her room. There, silent tears dripped from her green eyes as she prepared herself for the cold wastelands.

She looked into the mirror as she tied up the last of her clothing, sizing herself up. Could she really be… manipulative? She had always pictured herself as a person who wanted to make love happen, to bring the happiness of a relationship to someone else. Was what she was doing the opposite? Maybe she deserved the title Jenna had labeled herself with more than Jenna did. Perhaps, after all, it was Sheba who was truly "not very nice."

But Sheba had always prided herself on being "nice." She considered herself a kindhearted person, and as someone who always wanted the best for her friends. Maybe she wasn't as consistent as she had believed.

She made sure that the streaks of the salty tears were gone before she ventured out to the deck. Piers had stopped the boat as close to the edge of the ice flow as he could, but they would still have to levitate the ship for a little while to reach the inland. As the rest of the group made their way on deck, Sheba could feel the strangest tension among the people in their group, a web of anger and deception and… _mistrust?_ At this point in their quest, mistrust?

These thoughts occupied Sheba as she robotically pooled her Psynergy to help levitate the ship. They drifted forward slowly, keeping the ship carefully under control. Then, when Piers saw a small growth of trees—signifying solid ground beneath them—he signaled to his friends to release. The ship floated slowly to the ground, and they prepared to disembark.

Isaac, who had missed most of the drama in his sleep, was very confused. Being the empathetic person as he was, he noticed the hurt feelings—and in Ivan and Garet's cases, bodies—that seemed to permeate the group. He decided, though, that it was worry for Mia and Felix that made them upset, and that Ivan and Garet had been roughhousing (it had happened before), and, as it became rationalized, moved to the back of his mind.

His body had finally recovered from the ordeal of the past few days, and though his hands still remained a little bit blistered, he was anxious and eager to move.

"We ready to go?" he asked, looking around.

Nobody disagreed.

"All right, then," he said.

They all got off the boat, walking carefully down the steep ramp. On more than one occasion, someone had fallen off of the wet plank and hit the ground from high up. It should be noted, however, that "someone" was usually Garet.

Isaac led, followed by Jenna, then Piers. Ivan and Garet came down after him, and Sheba came last, well behind the others. They came to a halt near a small group of pine trees.

Ivan looked off in to the distance. His A.D.D. had him looking all over the place, and he was unable to focus on the conversation. It registered somewhere in his brain that they were deciding on a direction. It didn't really matter to Ivan, though. He was enjoying himself. It was harder than it seemed to catch snowflakes in your mouth without moving. Wait. How long had it been snowing?

"Ugh, I can't believe it's snowing AGAIN!" roared Jenna angrily. "We won't be able to see anything!"

The group erupted into a furious shouting match. Ivan offhandedly wondered why Felix wasn't telling them to calm down.

_Right…_ he thought glumly. _There's no one to tell us to…_

"ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE SHUT UP!"

Isaac exhaled once, and closed his mouth tightly.

"What has gotten into all of you today? You're all fighting with each other; Garet and Ivan look like they got in a fist fight; Sheba looks like she killed someone. What in the world is going on? This can't be _only _about Felix and Mia."

Nobody said anything. Sheba looked at the ground, Jenna at her fingernails. Ivan and Garet avoided each other's eyes at all costs.

"Fine with me," said Isaac. "I'll lead today. We'll talk when we get back to the boat, with or without Mia and Felix. Let's go, this way."

They headed northeast, looking anywhere for signs of a shelter. The snow, while not impermeable, made it impossible for them to split up and search. They made slow progress, and no one felt like speaking. As the sun went down, the cold began to creep into their boots and gloves, making everyone cranky and irritable. Isaac, unperturbed, continued to search. However, as the red sun kissed the horizon, they still had not found any traces of a campsite.

"Let's head back," he said with authority.

By the time they reached the boat again, every single piece of clothing was soaking wet and frosty. The group quickly made their way up the deck, and they began to shed their wet clothes on the way up. Isaac stepped his way to the front of the line and put himself in front of the door.

"No one is going in until we talk things out. I'm not cold yet. Everyone, sit down."

Jenna dropped her boot, from which she was currently shaking snow.

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. Sit down."

Piers immediately sat down by the benches near the wheel, and then so did Jenna. The others followed suit with some level of reluctance. It was going to be a long night, Isaac thought to himself, but they needed it.


	10. What Goes Around

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**Here is, once again, my awesome list of people who have reviewed this story: MartinIII (my greatest thanks to Martin – if any of you want to know what a helpful review looks like, look at his), insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas.**

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**This is a nice long chapter, and for me, a relatively short wait. Hope you all like it!**

**Author's Note: This is a continuation of the Isaac and Co, where the last chapter ended. A very short, one-sentence recap here: After a long day of tension, Isaac decides to sit the group down for a nice talk…**

Tundra

Chapter 10: What Goes Around…

Isaac paced the floor of the deck slowly, pursing his lips. He didn't want to be the first to speak. After spending a better part of the day thinking about what to say, he decided it would be better to let someone else have the first word.

Left to right, left to right… Isaac started to count his footsteps. One, two, three, four, five... eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twen…

He stopped pacing and looked up at his friends, scanning them. Piers, with the patience of a man who has seen many years, sat smiling slightly. He was obviously uncomfortable in the weather, but he seemed possessed by a sense of duty at the moment, as Isaac was. Isaac guessed that Piers knew better than anyone why they were out here.

Ivan was rolling his fingers on his right knee, his physical body impatient. His eyes, however, did not stray from Isaac. Next to him, Garet sat with his hands folded, elbows on his knees, his eyes on the ground. Even with his broad shoulders, and with six inches of height on everyone else in the group, Garet seemed small.

Jenna sat next to Sheba. She looked at Isaac, partially confused, and partially guilty. She knew that she was part of the reason that they were outside in this freezing weather. What Jenna didn't realize was that Sheba, sitting to her right, was struggling to hold back tears.

Sheba was beyond embarrassed. Piers was going to tell Isaac everything that had happened over the past several days. That would tear Isaac and Jenna apart for sure, and then two of her best friends would know how she had tried to manipulate them.

Piers' voice scrolled across the marquee in her mind.

"…_if I were you, I would apologize to Jenna _before_ she has a chance to get angry at you._"

Sheba tried. She tried to open her mouth, to turn to Jenna and be brave. She wanted to say that she was sorry in advance for what she had been doing, how she had been acting, and then stand up with her head high, even in her shame, and confess in front of everyone what she had done. She wanted to be courageous and do the right thing.

But she couldn't. She couldn't stand up. She was too afraid. She hated herself terribly for her cowardice, but it didn't matter. There was nothing she could say to herself that would convince her go up in front of the group and confess.

At that moment, Jenna glanced over at her friend, and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. Jenna said nothing, but put her arm around her friend and gave her a consoling hug.

"Don't feel bad, Sheba, it's my fault we're out here. I shouldn't have reacted so badly earlier."

"Thank you, Jenna" said Isaac plainly.

Sheba buried her head in Jenna's shoulder.

"What for?" she asked.

"For starting us off on the right foot. Everyone, we are too far down this road to fall apart as a group. Why are we starting now? There is no way we are _this _dependent on Felix. I know he's our leader, but this is just embarrassing. Garet and Ivan, I thought one of you would speak up first. Why did you two get in a fight today?"

"Umm," Ivan hesitated.

"It was me," Jenna interjected. "They came into our room for some reason, and it smelled bad. I wasn't in a very good mood at that moment, so I just sort of… blew up."

Isaac decided to respond maturely, and not to point out that a single girl had beaten both of them up.

"Why were you in her room then, guys? You know that she hates that."

"Umm," said Ivan again.

"Umm, what?" jabbed Isaac. "What were you looking for?"

Isaac desperately hoped that this conversation was not taking an awkward turn. As it turned out, it was, but not in the direction Isaac had in mind.

"Nothing," said Garet. "We were talking."

"With who?"

Ivan and Garet exchanged a furtive glance.

"Talking _with who?_" glowered Isaac, tightening his lip. "Each other? Because obviously no one invited you in there."

"That's not true…" squeaked Ivan.

"Then who invit… Ah. I see. Sheba? Do you want to share something with the rest of us?"

Sheba felt her insides plummet as Jenna withdrew from the hug. She wasn't making it out of this one, and she was terribly afraid that before she fell asleep that she would be short at least one friend. She slowed her breathing, and dried her tears off a little bit before she spoke. She knew that everyone in the group was looking at her.

"I'm sorry Jenna," she said shakily. "I… haven't been very nice over the past few days. Past few weeks. I… I invited Ivan and Garet into our room, w-when you had finished talking with Isaac, because I wanted t-to talk to them about… you and Isaac."

Sheba let the words flow out of her like a river from a broken dam, an unstoppable disaster, herself a bystander, only able to watch the carnage. She instead stared blankly into a small blemish on the deck floor, letting her breath catch up to her emotions.

Sheba's words hit Isaac like a freight train. The pause allowed their weight to truly register. To say that he felt oblivious was an understatement.

Jenna looked wordlessly at Sheba. Sheba didn't dare look her in the eyes. She couldn't bear to see Jenna's unadulterated stare of betrayal. She could already feel the eyebeams of two of her closest friends searing holes through her.

"I wanted to ask them… ask them about… getting… about getting you two together."

Even the fiercely cold winds around the boat seemed silent. Sheba let a stream of tears fall from her eyes. They splashed on the deck under the night sky as the moonlight reflected off of them. The puddle beneath her began to freeze.

"After you got angry at Garet and Ivan, I went and talked to Piers about it. He…he told me to stop being m-manipulative and… apologize before… before things got bad. Oh, Jenna, I'm sorry! Y-you're my best friend and I've been horrible…"

"Yeah, damn right you have been! How could you?" Jenna swore. "How _could _you! I've told you _everything_, and you just… you just…"

Jenna stood up, chin trembling, and looked down at Sheba with contempt. Then, before Isaac could say anything, she walked away, opened the door, and shut it with a brand of quiet finality.

A long silence engulfed the deck.

"It wasn't just Sheba," Ivan said a moment later. "I was in on it too."

"So was I," added Garet. "I'm sorry, Isaac, I just…"

"Leave me alone for a while, please," Isaac interrupted, as he turned around and put his hands on the rail at the edge of the ship. "Both of you."

Garet bit his lip, and then left quietly. Ivan followed, leaving Isaac, Sheba, and Piers on deck. Sheba still hadn't moved from where she sat.

"I think we needed that," said Piers, "Let everyone sleep on it. We'll all feel better in the morning, I think. I'll take what I can of the guard duty tonight, Isaac. You certainly need the sleep more than I do. I'll wake up one of the other guys when I can't stay awake anymore."

Isaac walked inside, shutting the door behind him. He walked to his room slowly, trying to take in the events of the evening. He didn't agree with Piers at all. The worst part was tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning, he had to face Jenna. He quickly removed his freezing, wet layers, pulled on dry pajamas, and got underneath the covers. He was asleep before he hit the pillow.

Sheba, on the other hand, could not sleep at all. She had come in shortly after Isaac. She couldn't go to her room to sleep, so she had grabbed one of the spare blankets and a pillow from storage and made herself a small and uncomfortable bed on the couch in the entry room. The pillow smelled of salt.

Where was Felix when you needed him? Felix, who always had the comforting word, who had an answer for every situation, who could make even the gravest troubles seem like small problems, who could take the emotion out of a situation and make sense of it. He was the stern leader, the man who jumped for her, the one who was there for anyone in the group who needed him.

Sheba desperately needed a friend to talk to, but knew that several of her relationships had been damaged tonight. Jenna would definitely never trust her again, not for a long time. Besides that, both Piers and Isaac obviously found her behavior despicable. Who would she talk to? Ivan? Garet? Not likely. What would they talk about besides Jenna and Isaac? For the first time since she had been taken from Lalivero by Saturos and Menardi, Sheba felt alone.

She fell apart again, hugging her pillow tightly as she stared at the ceiling. She felt cold. It was warm inside the ship, but she couldn't remove the empty feeling from the pit of her stomach, and it birthed an inner chill.

Sheba cried for a while longer, and she felt the cold renew itself again, only this time from the outside. It was Piers.

"Sheba?" he asked the lump on the couch.

She looked away from him, trying to stifle her tears.

"Oh, Sheba… I'm sorry," he said gently, taking a seat on the couch at her feet.

He stayed silent for a moment.

"Sheba, I think I owe you an apology," he began.

Sheba was shocked enough to look up from her pillow.

"Earlier today, I said some harsh words to you about your behavior. That wasn't the appropriate time or place to say something about it. I acted selfishly; I used your behavior as a target for backlash. I'm sorry that I wasn't concerned with your feelings. I know you were having a rough day, and I realize that you were frustrated. You must believe that even someone as old as I am doesn't care for a night like this. I'm sorry that if I had a problem with you, I could not confront you about it like an adult."

Sheba sniffled gently. Her tears stopped. She listened.

"You're not the only one to ever mess up in your relationships, you know?" said Piers matter-of-factly. "When I was young, there were no other children in Lemuria. I often had to devise ways of entertaining myself. Some worked out better than others. I would get into trouble, and I would apologize, and life would go on. However, as I got older, I felt that my parents would not respect the fact that I was growing up."

Sheba watched, and listened closely. She had not moved since Piers began to speak.

"I looked for ways to be outside of their supervision. I found one in King Hydros. When he first took me on as his aide, he had me take an oath. Being young as I was, I didn't care at all for such things. I barely even paid attention to the words, even though I know them by heart now: _I am a Wing. I serve the People, guided by the Senate, under the wise eyes of our King. I am not a champion, but a standard-bearer. I am not a master, but a servant. I am not above the law, I am within the law_.

"A mere two days after I took that oath to King Hydros, I had forgotten all about it. I was bored. I took to exploring areas I had not been allowed to venture into before. I flaunted my new status everywhere. It allowed me access to the docks, to the Old City, to the Senate floor. I could go anywhere and do anything!

"That day, as I returned from my explorations in the Old City, I hit another boat. The damage… was not permanent, but it would have cost me much money to repair. Instead of offering to pay for it, I merely claimed my right as Hydros' Wing, and went on my way.

"King Hydros got wind of it the next day, and I have never in my life been so scared as when I saw his eyes that morning as I entered.

"'You are a _disgrace_,' he said to me. 'You swore to serve the people, and yet now you trample all over them? I think not. I have half a mind to remove you from your post right now, and have you buy them a new ship on top of that.'

"I had never truly betrayed someone's trust until that moment. It took me a long time to build up King Hydros's trust again, but when I did, I was his closest aide. He trusted me, above all others, with this mission, and I don't not intend to fail.

"My point is, dear Sheba, that tomorrow will be difficult. So too will the day after. But you must commit yourself to regaining the trust of your friends. I, for one, am ready to start tonight. And, as a show of good will, I'll tell you a secret."

"A secret?" she asked, fragilely.

"Yes," said Piers, smiling. "My true age."

Sheba grinned, and a bright spark appeared in her swollen, reddened eyes.

"My true age," he said, bringing himself closer to her ear, "is…"

He put his hand over his mouth and whispered. A second later, Sheba beamed brightly and embraced Piers with a wrapped-around hug. He returned the gesture in kind. As she let go, he bid her good night and walked off to rouse Garet. Sheba pulled the blanket up to her neck as she smiled to herself. Just as Piers opened to door to go below deck, however, an explosive flash of light illuminated the black night sky, accompanied by a loud boom.

Sheba didn't need to read minds to know what Piers was thinking at that moment.

"Do you think...?" said Sheba.

Both of them immediately ran outside, haphazardly pulling on their jackets. As they looked out on the horizon, Sheba used Reveal. What she saw set her heart beating like a jackhammer. She quite clearly saw a bright flash of Ragnarok in the Northern sky.

"Piers! It's them!"

**So… I think this might be some of my best dialogue ever. Actually, forget that, this is some of my best writing ever. I hope. I did this all in about six hours, and I think it turned out rather well, even though it is now 3:33 a.m. Lucky time to finish, no?**

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	11. Being Together

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**Once again, thank you so much to: UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. You guys do a fantastic job of reviewing, so thank you. Special honors go to SpiritGuardian and MartinIII. For the most part, you two have reviewed every single chapter.**

**Many thanks to UltaFlame this chapter especially, for pointing out my (ack!) ****_canon error_**** involving the Sol Blade, seeing as they have not yet been to Mars Lighthouse. I try very hard not to make those. To my knowledge, this is my first big slip up in any of my stories.**

**Merry Christmas/Hanukah/Holidays/Whatever-I'm-not-politically-correct to everyone who has read or reviewed my story! It is now my number one most-read story! Thanks to all of you!**

**A short summary of Chapter 10: Isaac sits the group down after a long day of tension, and they talk out some problems. Sheba loses the respect of pretty much everyone. Then, as she talks to Piers afterward, she and Piers see the flash of battle off in the distance, and recognize it to be Felix's Psynergy.**

Tundra

Chapter 11: Being Together

A loud, frantic knock roused Isaac from his sleep. Groggily, he stepped out from under the sheets to open the door. Behind it, a muffled male voice said, "Isaac! Isaac!"

Isaac zombied his way over to the door, grasped the handle, and pulled open the heavy oaken door to admit his mysterious visitor, who happened to be Piers.

"Whassumatter?" slurred Isaac.

"We've found Felix," Piers said.

Isaac felt the electricity jump down his spine, the sleepiness evaporating like still water on a hot day.

"Where?"

Piers led him up the steps and out on to the deck, where Sheba pulsated with the familiar blue-white glow of active Psynergy. The air around her shimmered slightly, indicating that the Psynergy was Reveal. She stared out over the ice-filled bay, focusing on something off in the distance.

"Where are they?" Isaac asked Piers, looking out over the edge of the boat.

"North…" said Piers, pointing in the general direction. Isaac strained his eyes fiercely, but he saw nothing…

Nothing…

Nothing…

"Look! There!" exclaimed Sheba, pointing up into the night sky.

A small beam of white light floated down from the heavens, not unlike the beam in the center of Jupiter Lighthouse, though this one was a soft blue, not purple. It hung wispily in the air, formless.

Then, with a small glint from space as warning, a massive, searing pillar of white light exploded from the sky, piercing every fold and corner for miles. The brightness, even as far away as it was, overpowered the three Adepts on the deck. Piers and Isaac cringed and covered their eyes, away, while Sheba crumpled and her Psynergy failed. Moments later, the light faded.

"Sheba!" exclaimed Piers.

She stirred with a moan on the floor below. She slid gingerly up from her back to a sitting position.

"That… was n-not human," she said fearfully.

"That light?" asked Piers, as he pulled her back up.

"Uh huh," she affirmed. "The only power like that I've ever seen was on top of the lighthouses."

_Great power…_ thought Isaac.

"Isaac?"

Piers' voice snapped Isaac out of his reverie.

"Do you want us to rouse the others?"

"Yes, do it," said Isaac. "If we leave now, we will be there by sunrise. It's too dangerous to try to fly the ship at night, wouldn't you say?"

"I agree. I don't think I could pilot the ship airborne well enough during the night. I'd more than likely kill us all."

"That would be nice to avoid," Isaac replied.

"Yes," said Piers, as he turned to go back into the ship. "Sheba? Are you coming?"

She got up slowly.

"Yes, I am. I'll get Garet and Ivan. You'll get Jenna?"

"Who'll get Jenna?" asked the Fire Adept, who crossed the deck in her pajamas. "What was all that… light and stuff?"

"That 'light and stuff' was your brother and Mia," said Isaac, "and something else… unnatural."

"That's never good," Jenna muttered.

She plaintively ignored Sheba's presence, as if the Jupiter Adept weren't even present, and spoke to Isaac as if the night's confrontation hadn't even happened. It was impossible not to admire, or at least respect, her extraordinary level of bullheadedness.

"Well, are we going to find them or what?" she probed.

"Yeah, we just have to get Garet and Ivan," said Piers.

"They were right behind me…" Jenna said, with a hint of a grudge, looking over her shoulder. "It was impossible to stay asleep through that lightshow. See, here they are."

Ivan and Garet came out on deck, also in their pajamas.

"Oh," Jenna continued, focusing her eyes on Piers, "Kraden is still asleep in his room. He hasn't moved since before we left today, so I say we just let him sleep."

"Sounds good to me," said Piers, glancing slightly at Isaac, not wanting to usurp leadership.

"Let's get going," said Isaac, with weary enthusiasm.

Isaac had not, until this moment, comprehended under what level of awkwardness that human beings were capable of functioning. Jenna's wrath was nearly palpable, and it was spread over more than half of the group. As they made their way down the gangplank, they all gave Jenna a wide berth. Sheba did her best to hide in Piers' shadow, hoping that she could somehow go unnoticed. A moment later, karma slapped Sheba in the face.

Garet, who was still half asleep, released a startled yelp as he slipped off the plank and fell ten feet down and collided sickeningly with the ice below.

"Garet!" Ivan shouted, rushing down to his friend.

He knelt down at Garet's side, and turned him onto his stomach, and blanched. Garet's forearm bent in at almost a thirty-degree angle, and the bone protruded from his skin, splintered. The snow beneath him began to take on a deep, sanguine hue.

"Ohmigosh, that's so gross," said Jenna, shivering in revulsion.

Garet began to laugh hysterically. The rest of the group looked on in shock.

"Garet," asked Ivan, "what's the matter with you, man? Your bone is poking out of your arm."

"Aw, man, I know! Haha, look at it! It's so awesome! Oooohh..." he said as he poked his forearm, "nasty!"

He began laughing hysterically again.

"He's pain-drunk, Ivan," Isaac responded. "I guess we worry about Felix and Mia tomorrow. If they've made it this long, they can make it one more night. Let's take care of Garet. Ivan, run back inside and wake up Kraden, get the table upstairs ready. We're going to need space to work."

He nodded and hurried off to Kraden's room.

"Piers, can you help me pick him up? Girls, you too. We need to carry him back on to the ship."

_It's a good idea to get Ivan away from him, even if it's just for a moment_, thought Isaac. _He's going to get too worked up around Garet_.

Sheba, with a face as pale as a ghost, steadied Garet's head, while Piers and Isaac clasped hands underneath his back. Jenna led them up the ramp, carrying his feet. Ivan and Kraden met them at the door. Kraden looked as somber as Isaac had ever seen him. They guided him carefully through the entryway and placed him on the table.

Kraden deftly cut off Garet's sleeve and extended the injured limb. Kraden looked to Isaac.

"Well, Isaac," he asked simply, "what do we do now?"

The rest of the group looked at Isaac as well.

Isaac, standing on Garet's left side, bit his bottom lip as he mumbled, "Give me a minute..."

He racked his brain, thinking about what to do for his best friend. What did he know about broken bones? He knew that the village healers handled them fairly easily, and not all of them were as gifted as Mia.

Where was Mia when her healing abilities were badly needed? She wouldn't be struggling with something as small as a broken bone, certainly. She would already be halfway done.

_Focus,_ he thought to himself. _What have I seen? What have I heard about broken bones? I know that you have to set them... I know someone will have to knock Garet out. Um..._

"Ok, here's what we're gonna do," said Isaac. "First, Garet needs to be totally unconscious ten seconds ago. Piers?"

"Happy to oblige," said Piers, who promptly thumped Garet on the head with the pommel of his sword.

"Not exactly advanced medicine," he grimaced, "but it will do for now."

"We have to work fast, everybody," said Isaac. "Someone else needs to put his bone back in place while I try to heal him. Anybody want to volunteer?"

No one seemed particularly interested in touching the sinew-laced mess protruding from Garet's forearm.

"I'll do it," said Sheba with the slightest shiver. "I saw some of the people in Lalivero do it once. I think I remember how..."

Her skin began to crawl as her hands went across the just-opened flesh and bone. Her face took on a pale green hue, but she fought her nausea down as she pulled the skin back and pushed the bone into place, careful to push muscles, ligaments, and tendons aside as she did so. The bone fit like a puzzle piece. She pulled her hands, now covered with blood, away, and took a step back. This time, her nausea overcame her. She turned around, fell to her knees, and retched on the floor.

"Ivan," said Isaac, nodding in Sheba's direction as he poured his Psynergy into Garet's body, "take care of her, please."

Ivan acquiesced, and knelt down behind Sheba, massaging her back as she continued to throw up on the floor.

Isaac refocused on Garet. The cogs within his mind churned, processing what had already happened and deciding what to do next.

"Can anyone sew?" asked Isaac.

"What kind of question is _that_?" Jenna blurted. "Look at his arm!"

"I'll do the stitches, Isaac," said Kraden. "I've picked this up living by myself for my entire life."

"Oh, right..." said Jenna.

Kraden removed his ever-present brown cloak and placed it on the nearby couch, atop Sheba's makeshift bed. He walked wordlessly over to the storage cabinet, and removed a small sewing kit. He produced a needle and threaded it deftly.

"Jenna, will you heat the needle, please?" Kraden said with impressive focus.

The glow of her Psynergy was barely perceptible as she fired a small but intense blue flame over the tip of the needle. After about ten seconds, she stopped the heat, and Kraden began to work, threading the needle back and forth through the gash that ran the length of Garet's forearm. Small beads of sweat began to form on the wizened scholar's forehead as he weaved Garet's skin back together. Piers and Jenna pushed the separate sides of their injured friend's skin back together as Kraden worked, while Isaac poured his Psynergy into Garet's body like a waterfall.

Behind them, Sheba trembled as she stood back up. Ivan offered his shoulder, and she accepted. The beleaguered wind Adepts stood quietly behind their friends, watching breathlessly as Kraden wove Garet's future back together.

The sweat on Kraden's forehead intensified, but his focus didn't waver. Nine stitches later, Kraden put the needle down and wiped his brow.

"It is finished. I think... I've had all I can handle for tonight," he laughed wearily. "I'm going to go back to sleep."

He meandered lazily out the door of the common room and down into the bowels of the ship, where a warm bed waited for him.

The rest of the group barely heard him, as their attention was centered on Garet, but in reality, they were quite the sight themselves.

Isaac was near his breaking point, covered in sweat and breathing as if he had just finished a marathon. Sheba looked like death, and it was because of Ivan alone that she stood. Jenna and Piers were both utterly drenched in blood, like a scene from a graphic 90's horror movie.

Jenna couldn't help it. She laughed, raucously. She had spent the previous two hours in her room, letting her frustration with Sheba, Garet, and Ivan broil, telling herself all sorts of crazy things about how she was going to _show them_, and _let them have it_, vindicating her rage.

A half hour of blood and guts later, it didn't really seem important anymore. Nothing but this _moment _seemed important anymore. She was just happy to have her friends. Even in all of their faults, in all of their failings, in all the glory of their imperfect adolescence, they were her _friends_. Her face blossomed into a ear-to-ear grin as her glee continued to spill over.

Piers caught her eye, and her contagious, feminine laughter convinced him to pop a smile as well, a smile which soon turned to a gleam and then erupted into a deep wooping. Ivan caught the disease too, and Isaac quickly followed. Even Sheba managed a feeble chuckle as some of the color returned to her face. Jenna laughed and laughed and laughed. She laughed until she couldn't breath, until she cried.

As the mixed tears of mirth and regret flowed down her face, she pulled Piers into a tight embrace. Piers looked surprised – and a little winded – for a moment, but then embraced Jenna as well, and beckoned the rest of the group to join. Isaac exhaled deeply, and hugged his two friends tightly as well. Ivan helped Sheba over, and they joined in the huddle.

In the middle of the pile, Jenna's tears turned entirely to those of happiness. As she did, she felt a warm hand slide itself into her grip. She looked around, and caught Isaac's eye, who squeezed her hand tightly when she did so. She smiled brightly.

"Everyone..." she said.

They split apart, savoring the warmth of the moment. After a moment, Ivan spoke.

"I'm gonna get Sheba to bed. W-who's go-oh-oh-ing to watch Garet?" he yawned. "He's gonna wake up pretty soon and I'm guessing it won't be very fun."

"Jenna and I will take care of that," said Piers, "assuming Jenna is ok with it."

"Yeah, just let me wash myself up first," she said, looking down at her hands and arms with disgust. "I've never had so much blood on me in my entire life... Ugh! So gross!"

She walked over to the nearby sink and began to wash the grime from her arms.

"Me too," Piers agreed.

"Well done, everyone," said Isaac. "His arm looks good, by any standard. I'll get some ice from outside and then we'll... Woah!" he exclaimed as he fatigue and dizziness overtook him, and he stumbled backward.

He grabbed hold of Sheba's couch-bed to prop himself up.

"I'll take care of him," said Jenna from the sink.

She hoisted his arm over his shoulder with a smile.

"C'mon, let's go to – _oof_ – bed," she said, as his weight came down on her after his first step.

She lifted him back up to a comfortable position on her shoulder, and led the blond seventeen-year-old down the stairs to his room, where she set him down gently on his bed. It was still unmade from his hurried wake-up earlier. Isaac took two deep breaths to steady himself. Jenna made her way out of his room.

"Good night, Isaac," she said as she moved to shut the door.

"Wait!" said Isaac.

His right hand unconsciously drifted closer to the door.

Jenna stopped and turned around. Her left leg stood crossed behind her right, and she gently rested her hands on the doorframe and the knob. The fact that she was so beautiful didn't help Isaac overcome his nervousness.

"Can we talk about... y-you know... what Sheba said, uh, earlier?" he asked.

"Um, y-yeah, sure, I guess," she replied, closing the door and stepping back over to his bed. "What do you want to... talk about?"

She sat down on the bed next to him, just outside of an arm's reach.

"I dunno, just... how you feel about this whole thing, I guess."

Jenna's finger drew and erased circles in the flannel covering on Isaac's bed.

"Well... this whole thing is a mess," she said.

"Ha, yeah, obviously," Isaac chuckled nervously.

"I guess it's... well... more than a little sudden, too."

She began to draw figure-eights. Isaac gave a small nod of agreement. She bit her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry, I'm totally beating around the bush here... I don't know how... how to say this, Isaac, but... I-I... well, Sheba is my best friend, so I've... told her, um, everything, and that i-includes how I feel about you."

Jenna felt a curious sensation in her chest. If she had the ability to describe it, she would have said that it felt like her rapid heartbeat was restricting her breathing, but also that she had never before been so keenly aware of the clarity of each breath.

She straightened the back of her hair nervously. She had taken her ponytail out as soon as they had finished working. Isaac's bright blue eyes might as well have been x-rays. He rarely blinked, and she couldn't help but think that he already knew exactly how she felt about him. She stood there with a naked soul, trying to confess.

"I like you. I have for a long time, too. When Sheba... When Sheba told everyone earlier tonight, I couldn't believe it. She promised she wouldn't even bring it up again, when I told her. It took her forever to get it out of me, too. I kept denying it until we got to Jupiter Lighthouse, but after that, we talked one night... I told her everything. I didn't plan on telling you. I hadn't seen you in such a long time, and I didn't think there was any way you would like me back... But now that it's all out in the open anyway... Oh, you probably hate me now!"

She stared straight at the floor, trying not to tear up.

"Jenna, I like you too."

"Stupid Sheba!" Jenna fumed, "I knew you wouldn't... wait, you like me?"

"Yeah, since forever. That's why I left Vale. I didn't really feel like a special hero or anything... I just wanted to... I dunno... This is gonna sound stupid... save you, I guess."

"Isaac," she said, with her brown, puppy-dog eyes, "that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

He gleamed brightly. She smiled too.

"I'd give you a hug, Isaac, but..."

She spread her arms out and grimaced as she looked down at her blood-covered body.

"It's ok," said Isaac. "I'll probably be asleep before you could get back, so... good night, Jenna."

"Good night, Isaac." she replied.

She turned off the light in his room and began to pull the door shut. Before she left the room, she poked her head back inside. A stray beam of moonlight shone through the small, round window on Isaac's wall. That small moonbeam illuminated an even brighter smile on his face. With a head full of deviousness, she quietly snuck back into the room...

Isaac was mostly asleep before he hit the pillow.

Mostly asleep. Not all asleep. Mostly asleep meant he was slightly conscious.

And indeed, he was semi-conscious when he sunk into his pillow. He remained in this state of half-sleep for about ten seconds.

When Isaac woke up the next morning, he couldn't remember for sure, but he could have sworn that just before he fell asleep, he felt a soft pair of lips gently kiss his cheek.

Over the course of the night, Garet only woke once. He was in pain, but Piers procured one of the group's precious potions and administered some of the potent panacea to the area around the stitches, and allowed Garet to drink the rest. The potion allowed Garet to sleep soundly until the next morning.

Ivan had taken the second shift of Garet-sitting, and when dawn's sunbeams first became visible over the mountains to the north, Ivan began to wake up the rest of the group. About fifteen minutes later, they all stood on the deck, dressed in their boots and snow gear. Piers flew the ship around the cliffs and the lone mountain that stood between them and the explosion of light that they had seen the previous night.

The landed behind a small snow dune, and decided to take the rest of the trek on foot, to leave Garet and Kraden away from any danger. From the ground, however, they encountered a small problem. Over the wide, identical snowdrifts, everything looked the same.

"So..." said Ivan, "somebody knows where we're going, right?"

"I got this," said Jenna.

She drew in a large breath, and yelled, "FE-LIX!"

They all stood still, straining their ears. No response was forthcoming.

Jenna continued to call as they made their way northwest. For ten minutes, they continued with no results.

"Come on guys, help me!" she pleaded.

"FE-LIX!" she called again.

"JENNA!" the distance finally shouted back, from directly in front of them.

They all ran up the snowdrift in front of them. Waiting for them at the top was the sight of a hut, which stood in the snow barely fifty meters away, with Felix in front it. Immediately afterward, Mia appeared from the door.

They all took off from the hill at a sprint. Jenna arrived first and nearly knocked her brother to the ground with a ferocious bear hug.

"Felix... Y-you made it... I thought I lost you. You promised me you would never do that again!"

She pulled him tighter.

"You've lost some weight," said Jenna, pulling her head away from his chest briefly.

"I know," said Felix. "We've been rationing the food. Believe it or not, Phoenix tastes rather good, but not as good as their eggs do. Especially scrambled."

She rolled her eyes and hugged him tighter.

Mia hugged both Ivan and Isaac tenderly.

"Where's Garet?" she asked, concerned.

"He's... on the ship," said Ivan. "He took a nasty fall last night. He broke his arm. It went all the way through his skin and everything."

Ivan paused for a moment.

"Come to think of it," he pondered aloud, "isn't that the same arm he hurt jumping after Mia?"

"You're right! It was his left arm, just like last time," Isaac said.

Mia looked hurt.

"It isn't your fault, Mia," assuaged Ivan. "He just fell off the plank when it was all wet and slippery."

_That's what she said,_ Ivan thought to himself.

"How is he doing?" she asked.

"He's... stable?" Ivan asked Isaac.

"Stable," Isaac agreed, "but we do need you to take a look at him when you get back. We did surgery on him. It was really gross..."

"But really cool!" Ivan interrupted.

"I was gonna say nerve-wracking," said Isaac dryly, "but I guess cool works."

"We should get going then," said Felix, who came up with Jenna and Sheba. "We can catch up back on the boat. I suspect we'll all have plenty of stories to tell."

_You got that right, _thought Isaac.

**Well, that was the end of an ENORMOUS chapter. Over 4000 words! That was a behemoth! Hope you all enjoyed it!**

**A few things...**

**First, did anyone besides me laugh at Ivan's joke?**

**Second, I made an allusion to a great movie by the name of ****_The Princess Bride_****. Did anyone catch it?**

**I tried as best I could to shorten this chapter, but I ****_had _****to put Felix and Mia back in before the end of it. There are some more deep conversations that should be coming along in the next chapter. Expect the following: Sheba and Jenna, Mia and Jenna, Sheba and Ivan/maybe-Garet, and Isaac and Felix (possibly). I tried not to draw this out any longer than necessary. Trust me, I know that I cut short some reunion conversations. Expect the next chapter to be very heavy on the dialogue (at which, conveniently, I suck).**

**Any thoughts on the ****_quality of the_****_writing _****of this chapter? I appreciate everyone who comments on the story, but my writing needs more improvement than my storyline does, at this point... I'd appreciate it.**

**I'll hopefully update very soon. I have another long car trip coming up, so I'll have plenty of time to write!**

**Once again, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of my readers, and especially my reviewers. You guys are the absolute best!**


	12. The Heart Is Here

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**I haven't been writing at all recently. I just can't get anything good out of myself-not poetry, not short stories, not songs, not a thing. It has been making me very upset. So, I thought to myself last night, "It's time to go back to my roots – I guess I might be finishing Tundra after all." **

**So, here I am. I have no idea what to do next, and I fully expect that my quality of writing has deteriorated somewhat. All I ask is that you bear with me – we'll get to the finish line soon. It already feels good to have my fingers back underneath the keyboard. This should be fun!**

**As is customary, I now take time to vigorously thank all of my reviewers: …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. You guys have driven me to continue my story for a long time, and you are a large part of the reason that I am picking it back up today. **

Tundra

Chapter 12: The Heart Is Here

The eight young adepts sat at the table in the common room of their proud Lemurian ship. Upon their safe return, Kraden had jubilantly exclaimed that a feast was in order, and a feast he had prepared – Kraden had long since earned the title of a master chef, and he had proven himself once again with his latest culinary exploit.

The main course, per Felix's suggestion, was phoenix – it tasted like chicken, but it had a more rich flavor; one could also detect a gamey taste in the initial bite. Everyone agreed that it was one of the most interesting dishes that Kraden had ever prepared. The scholar had also delved into the store of corn they had purchased from Contigo and procured some butter, allowing for delicious corn-on-the-cob. Mashed potatoes, soup, and several other vegetables also complimented the main courses. It was the best-prepared meal any of them had ever eaten on the ship.

The group laughed and chattered heartily as they passed the dishes down the table. As usual, Ivan and Garet received their food last – the serving bowls tended to become empty when they passed the two boys. As soon as everyone had loaded plates, unfinished conversations from earlier began in earnest.

"So Garet," began Mia, "what exactly happened to your arm?"

Garet shuddered slightly as he lifted his spoon to his mouth with his left hand.

"I fell off the gangway," he said. "I landed right on my arm. I felt it bend in, and then it hurt really bad for just a second.. After that, I couldn't feel anything. I heard the pop, too. Then I looked at it, and the bone was poking…"

"No-no-no-no-no!" exclaimed Sheba, who covered her ears with her hands. "Details later, please. I'm eating."

The Jupiter adept looked plaintively at her plate.

"Sorry, Sheba," apologized Garet, before turning back to Mia. "So, anyway, I fell, it broke, and then I remember being carried on the boat. After that, Isaac said that I needed to be unconscious, so I just passed out. I don't really know why."

Jenna and Sheba giggled slightly.

"But you're fine now?" Mia inquired.

"Well, I do have a pretty bad headache…" Garet intoned.

Sheba and Jenna's giggles erupted into laughter. Garet looked at them with confusion.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

The girls laughed even harder.

"Garet, you have a headache because we had to use… unorthodox methods to produce your anesthesia," said Piers apologetically.

"And that means…" said Garet, making circles with his good hand to Piers.

"I used my sword pommel," the Lemurian said.

"Oh," replied Garet, who, judging by his tone, did not much care for unorthodox anesthesia. "I gotcha."

The girls laughed again. Garet rolled his eyes.

"So how did you get his bone back in?" asked Mia.

"Kraden and Sheba did it," replied Ivan. "Sheba set the bone, and then Kraden did the stitches. And let me tell you, he's a brilliant surgeon."

"That's one way to put it," agreed Isaac. "He did an amazing job."

Mia beckoned Garet to stand up; she walked around the table and looked at his arm. She peered at it, probing the outer layers of their handiwork. After a few seconds, she voiced her opinion.

"Absolutely flawless," she affirmed, looking at Kraden at the head of the table. "I couldn't have done better."

Kraden accepted her compliment gratefully, and took a small bite of his dinner. Mia made her way back around the table, and smoothed the back of a new pair of robes as she sat down between Isaac and Sheba.

"So much has happened in the past few days," Mia stated as she exhaled.

"Agreed," said Jenna. "I'm amazed we made it through that storm, for one."

"Tell us about the storm," Felix said, in his own very concise way.

"Yes, I'd like to hear what happened after we fell off, too," Mia added.

"We didn't have a pilot for more than five hours," said Isaac. "If you hadn't dropped the anchor, Felix, we wouldn't have made it. We caught a lucky break after that though. We went right through the eye of the storm."

"And it took five hours?" Mia responded, incredulous.

"Yeah, it was nerve-wracking," said Isaac. "The worst part of it was that I couldn't even make it outside without being blown off the ship. I had to just _wait_ while everyone else was in working."

"Not after we got into the eye, though," Jenna interrupted, "Actually, Felix, I wanted to tell you – Isaac is your kind of idiot."

She winked in the blond adept's direction.

"We came into the eye of the storm, and he decided to strap himself to the helm. You'll probably see the mark from where he had Garet burn his bootsoles onto the deck. And look at his hands!"

Isaac shook his head negatively at Jenna, but the rest of his friends egged him on. He pulled his hands out from beneath the table, revealing his raw, twice-reblistered hands. Mia's jaw dropped. Felix's eyes opened slightly.

"Oh my goodness," gasped Mia.

"They're fine," said Isaac. "They don't hurt. Besides, I think it's about time Felix and Mia told us their story. I think we deserve a good story now."

"Not quite yet, Isaac," said Kraden. "What about after the storm? It took the rest of us quite a bit of time to find our two friends. I think that deserves some explanation."

"Yes," Felix agreed, "I would like to hear why it took so long after the storm. Mia and I were worried that you didn't make it."

"We got lost," said Ivan.

Garet chuckled. Isaac shot him a terse glare.

"We _were _blown off course during the storm," Isaac amended, "and we couldn't figure out where we were until later that night. We kept moving, but travel took us almost all day. By the time we got back to the coast, it was too dark to use the Wings anymore. We spent a day looking for you, but it wasn't until later that night that we saw your… battle? Garet got hurt as we were leaving, and you know the rest."

"Speaking of battle…" Kraden said, "I believe it is Felix's turn for storytelling. What happened? Sheba was watching the battle with Reveal, and she saw something that knocked her unconscious. A very bright light."

Felix took a long sip of water.

"When we came ashore, there was a little cluster of trees, and under it there were some eggs. We ate those for a few meals, but we were attacked by the parents. They destroyed our shelter, and a piece of it fell on Mia's leg. She didn't have any Psynergy left, and neither of us had either Djinn or weapons. I got rid of one of the phoenixes, but the other one summoned a minotaur. I fell, and the minotaur went after Mia…"

The entire table was silent. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the food. Felix took another sip of water.

"_Something_ happened. I can't explain what. Something appeared. It told the creatures to leave. Then, it vanished, and that was it."

Felix glanced at Mia, making sure she understood that his dream was to remain private. She gave him a small nod, indicating that she understood. He was not going to reveal it to the group until he knew what seeing a vision of the Mercury Lighthouse's guardian denoted. Besides, he had no desire to explain the second dream. He was afraid of what it meant.

"I saw it too," Mia added. "I wouldn't believe it, but…"

"Oh, we all saw it," said Piers. "It was so bright that it woke up the entire boat. That's how we found you."

"Wow," said Ivan. "I wonder what it was…"

"We might never know," Felix stated simply, indicating that he did not wish to discuss the issue any further.

After a moment, several small conversations broke out on the side, and the rest of the meal passed without incident. Afterward, everyone chipped in to help with the cleanup. As they finished, Felix gave a very warranted order.

"Everyone, it is important that we proceed to Prox as soon as possible. Our entire world is at stake here."

He looked at each of his compatriots, all of whom looked directly into his eyes. They didn't show any sign of distaste, even though he was sure they felt it at the moment. This was one of the hardest orders for a dedicated leader to give, but Felix knew that he had to do it.

He continued, "And, as the world is in our hands, we will be taking tomorrow off. We'll leave late in the afternoon. Get some rest. Talk. Enjoy some time together. We've all earned it."

Smiles broke out on the faces of his companions; everyone suddenly seemed to be walking a little bit lighter, talking a little bit louder. Everyone began to disperse from the area around the table – Jenna, Garet, and Kraden excused themselves to freshen up, as they hadn't cleaned up since before dinner.

"Isaac, do you have a moment?" Piers asked as he walked out toward the door to the deck.

"Of course," Isaac replied, following the Lemurian outside.

Sheba glanced at Ivan and Mia.

"Can I talk to Felix for a minute, guys?"

"Oh," said Mia, "sure, Sheba. Want to take a walk, Ivan?"

"Sounds good to me!" Ivan chirped, and they strolled off outside, making their way toward the back of the ship.

Sheba waited until Ivan and Mia shut the door softly behind them.

"Can we sit down, Felix?" she asked, indicating the couch she had slept on the previous night. "I need to talk to you."

Felix brought his fatigued and muscular frame down onto the couch quietly.

"What's the matter, Sheba?" he asked.

"I-I've messed up a bit these past few days, Felix."

She paused.

"Actually, I messed up a lot," she remedied.

"Everyone on this boat makes mistakes, Sheba. But you know that."

"I do," she agreed.

"You made a mistake, but that isn't what's bothering you, is it?" he inferred.

"No," Sheba said.

"You know I won't judge," stated Felix, as though it were the simplest fact.

"It doesn't make this any less embarrassing," Sheba countered.

"When you're ready."

Felix waited patiently. Sheba, seated on the opposite side of the couch, took a deep breath and began to tell Felix what she had done - how she had manipulated everyone, how she had rationalized her decisions and actions, and how everything had finally broken down after the first day of searching. Felix listened to her impassively, his face calm and serene, as Sheba poured out all of her doubts and failings.

"…and that's everything," she sniffled. "I've been terrible to everyone, and… I didn't know what to do without you here. We were all a mess. What's bothering me is that we fell apart… that _I_ fell apart without you."

She paused. Felix said nothing, sensing that she had more to say. He continued to look at her intently.

"We need you, Felix. No, _I _need you. Don't leave us again. Please."

He embraced her tightly, and Sheba held on to him like a daughter holds her father.

"I won't," he assured her. "I promise."

"Do you need help, Piers?" Isaac inquired.

"No, not help, Isaac," the Lemurian replied. "I want to thank you for everything you've done these past few days. You've done a fantastic job of keeping us together. You can be sure that without your leadership, Feilx and Mia would be dead in the snow, and the rest of us would be likely be in the bottom of the ocean. We all owe you a great deal."

"Thanks, Piers," said Isaac, a little taken aback by Piers' up-front comments, but appreciative nonetheless.

"You've done remarkably well," Piers continued. "I was especially proud of the way that you handled the situation with Sheba. We needed that, and I am certain that the situation would have exploded without your intervention."

"I'm glad you think so," said Isaac wearily. "This whole thing is just…"

He struggled to find the right words.

"…messed up," he finished. "Thanks for the kind words, Piers."

"Of course," Piers replied. "I don't think we thank you – or Felix, for that matter – enough for saving our lives as many times as you both have. I thought that now would be a very appropriate time to do something about it."

He paused.

"Speaking of last night, by the way, I'm curious… How did you resolve the situation with Jenna?"

"It's… well, I mean… I don't know. She helped me down to my room after Garet's surgery, and we talked about it. She said she liked me, and I told her I felt the same way, but nothing else happened. She was sort of covered in blood. I don't really know what that means."

"You two have some more talking do then, it would seem," Piers commented.

"Yeah, I think we do," agreed Isaac. "Would you mind if I took care of that?"

"Go for it," Piers encouraged.

Isaac smiled in gratitude and made his way inside, down to the belly of the ship. Piers chuckled to himself, reminiscing about his younger days as he watched the blond adept leave.

"So, Mia, what's up?" Ivan asked, his boyish features full of curiosity.

The walked down the starboard side towards the back of the boat slowly. Ivan stuffed his hands in his pockets casually. He watched his breath freeze in the air as he exhaled out his nose. He looked over at Mia; her nose was toward the ground, and her brow was furrowed with confusion.

"What _really _happened while Felix and I were gone?" she asked. "I've never seen us so… frazzled."

Ivan chuckled softly at her word choice.

"Don't laugh, Ivan," she said indignantly. "I was being serious."

"I know," said Ivan with a contagious laugh, "it's just that 'frazzled' doesn't even begin to describe it."

Mia chuckled softly at his commentary.

"Go on, then," she urged. "what happened?"

"Do you want the long version or the short one?" Ivan asked.

"We've got time," said Mia. "I'll go with the long one."

"It began on a dark and stormy day at sea…" Ivan uttered dramatically through a grin, "when a company of eight heroic and good-looking adepts had been reduced to six."

Mia rolled her eyes and stopped walking, leaning back against the railing on the side of the ship.

"At that time, several of the more mischievous companions began to plot – they wanted to get Isaac and Jenna together while Felix was gone."

Ivan's histrionic tone of moments before deteriorated into a remorseful sigh; his face showed his regret and embarrassment plainly. Mia cringed as the pieces of the puzzle began to weave themselves into a tapestry in her mind.

"Oh my goodness," she sighed. "Ivan, did you really?"

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, we did. Not our best moment. It was really bad for Sheba, though. She even got Piers angry at her, and Piers never gets mad at anyone."

"I've never seen him react to anything unless it was warranted," Mia agreed. "He's a lot like Felix that way."

"The whole day after that was terrible – everything with Sheba happened in the morning. We walked around looking for you guys that whole first day after the storm, but everybody was irritable, and no one wanted to be around each other. Isaac got tired of it though, and then he called a big meeting on deck before we even went back inside. Everything came out, including the whole Isaac and Jenna thing… You know how Jenna normally yells when she's upset?"

Mia couldn't help but chuckle at his last comment – Ivan's commentary was infectiously humorous.

"Yes," she replied, inviting him to continue.

"Well when everything came out, Sheba tried to apologize. Then, Jenna yelled at her for a second, and then… Oooooh…" Ivan shuddered. "Then, she couldn't find anything else to say, so she just walked right off the deck. Didn't make a sound. She just shut the door quietly and went down to her room. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen."

Mia imagined the situation unfolding as Ivan had described it, and she had to agree that it would have been frightening indeed.

"I'll bet."

"When we saw your fight later that night, I thought that Jenna was going to tear Sheba to pieces on the way over to where you and Felix were. But, Garet fell and splintered his arm, so we had a great surgery-slash-team bonding experience instead of a fight on the tundra," Ivan concluded.

"You guys had a lot of action, it sounds like," Mia commented.

"Yeah, you could say that," Ivan replied dryly. "What did you and Felix do, besides fight wild animals?"

Mia hoped her blush didn't show as images of Felix's warm body pressed against hers came to her mind.

"N-nothing really," she stuttered. "Just, you know, talked and stuff."

"What, that's it?" said Ivan with a nudge and a grin. "I mean, you were with 'gorgeous Felix' in a hut all day."

"Ivan!" she shrieked, as she shot him a punch on the arm that was only partially playful . "I would _not_ do that! Never!"

"That's not what you said in your sleep that first night after Jupiter Lighthouse," Ivan shot back with a satisfied snicker.

Mia's face turned a deep crimson shade. It was probably true, after all. She did have a habit of talking in her sleep, or so she had been told, and she had certainly dreamed of Felix before. She couldn't even look at Ivan. She slumped down to the ground and hid her face between her bands.

Ivan, for his part, wore a look of shock and amazement. He had been expecting another playful punch, accompanied by a cultured, yet flippant remark in the way only Mia could. He had _not _been expecting to hit the nail on the head.

"Oh my gosh, Mia I-I didn't mean to…" he stammered as he crouched down to her level. "Mia, I never heard you say anything, it was just a joke. I was only making stuff up. Oh, shoot… I didn't know you really felt that way, I wouldn't… especially not right after…"

Mia still wouldn't look up.

"Mia, I'm so sorry," he whispered quietly. "I won't tell a soul. Come on, you know I didn't mean it like that."

Ivan waited for a moment. No response was forthcoming, save a small sniffle. Ivan cringed to himself.

"What in the _world_ can I say now?" he thought.

He sat awkwardly for a moment. At sixteen, he was struggling to handle the situation. He sat still as his mind churned, searching for a solution to his unfortunate teasing. Mia sniffled again.

He put his hand under her chin, pulling it up gently. He pulled a small hankie out of his pocket and wiped the tear streaks off of her face.

"It's not worth crying over," he said. "I won't tell anyone. I won't even bring it up with you again. It's safe with me. I promise."

He held out his pinky finger with an embarrassed grimace – the eternal gesture of apology and request for trust.

Mia smiled slightly, and the young Jupiter adept beamed – he knew that he had won her over, and so did she.

"You always know what to say Ivan," she said with a weary chuckle. "_After _you say the wrong thing, anyway."

"I do what I can," he intoned with a self-depreciating grin.

"I know you do," she replied sincerely. "Apology accepted."

"Thanks," he said, his boyish smile present as always.

There was a silent moment. Then, Mia spoke.

"How did you ever become such a goofball?" she pondered aloud.

"I blame Garet," Ivan responded innocently, not missing a beat.

"Riiiight," Mia replied.

She looked around, as though expecting to see the redheaded giant traipsing through the ship. She casually wiped away the last of her tears.

"Where is he, anyway?" she asked.

"Downstairs, I think," Ivan answered. "You know, I think it's about time we had an exclusive reunion party, just me, you, Garet, and Isaac. We can all hang out in Isaac's room because mine and Garet's smells bad or something."

"It does smell bad," Mia affirmed. "I can't stand it in there. You can barely see the floor!"

"Actually, Garet and I cleaned it the other day…"

"Really?" exclaimed Mia. "Now this, I have to see. Maybe we can have our reunion party in your room after all!"

"You won't believe it," promised Ivan. "It smells fresh."

_Well, _Ivan amended internally, _maybe not fresh, but at least not stale anymore._

"I won't believe it until I see it," Mia claimed. "You have to prove it to me."

"I'll show you then," Ivan replied. "Come on!"

They headed inside, and down to Ivan and Garet's room.

Jenna stepped out of the shower (even after such a long time on the boat, the mysterious Lemurian device was still marvel of relaxation to her), dried herself fully, and pulled her tall, soft-pink nightgown over her shoulders. She walked over to her window, opened the porthole, and let the clean ocean air refresh her.

It had been a long few days. She had both lost and then found her brother again; she had survived what could have been the most violent storm in the history of Weyard; her best friend had betrayed her confidence right under her nose; Garet had suffered an injury that could have been life-threatening; on top of it all, she had been on her monthly.

Then, there was that Isaac boy.

She hadn't talked to Isaac directly since the aftermath of Garet's surgery. She had seen him and talked to him with the group, to be sure, but she had no way of knowing his reaction to her… last _escapade _before she left his room. She wasn't even sure if Isaac knew what she had done. He had acted perfectly normal all day, and hadn't even sought her out after dinner. She expected that Isaac would have at least talked to her if he knew.

She sighed in frustration, pulled her hair taut as if to put it in a ponytail, and allowed it to fall back behind her. Maybe she was over-thinking this. She took another deep breath of the ocean's pure air.

One part of her mind told her to seek Isaac out herself, to talk to him again. It was obvious that they hadn't completely resolved everything. On the other hand, she didn't want to make herself any more vulnerable to Isaac than she already had. After the episode with Sheba, she was uneager to put herself in a position to be hurt. Besides, she had put her feelings on the line when she had talked to him in his room. This time, it was his turn to find her. Even as she made her decision to wait, a visitor rapped lightly on Jenna's door. She cracked the door open nervously.

It wasn't who she had expected.

"Hey," she said, "I was just… Oh. Hey, Sheba."

Jenna's voice grew the tiniest bit colder. Only someone who was looking for it would have noticed, but it was not imperceptible – Sheba certainly was looking for it.

"Hey… Jenna, listen… I-I'm really, really sorry, I… I've been terrible, I know I have, but... Can I come in please?"

"Yeah."

Jenna pulled the door back to allow Sheba through. Sheba walked in, and then Jenna turned around as she shut the door. She crossed her arms and then didn't move, and her expression betrayed nothing.

Sheba shuffled her feet nervously. It was never good when Jenna was so angry that she was quiet.

"I know that this isn't a good reason for what I did," Sheba began, "but I… I thought I would be helping you by trying to get you and Isaac together. It doesn't make sense now, but it did then. I wanted you two to be happy."

"Okay," Jenna replied insincerely.

Sheba forced herself to ignore Jenna's tone.

"I'm not very good at this," she continued, "but I didn't want you to think that I was trying to hurt you. I know I did, and that's all my fault. I hate knowing that I did it, because…"

Sheba stopped, sniffled, and took a deep breath, forcing herself to regain her composure.

"Before Saturos and Merandi came to Lalivero, I was always that… that child who fell from the sky, or something. I-I never had a real friend… until I started traveling with you guys."

Her voice began to crack again.

"I-I've been terrible to you Jenna, a-and I wish I hadn't because y-you're my… my best friend. You're the… _sniff_… only real f-friend I've ever had."

Tears flowed freely down Sheba's cheeks. She didn't look down though. She kept her eyes focused on Jenna. The Mars adpet's brown eyes, which had been tainted by anger and mistrust moments before, softened immediately at Sheba's last words. Jenna immediately pulled her friend tightly to her.

"Oh, Sheba," she said tenderly, "thank you. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been so angry. You were only trying to help. Besides, I can't be too mad at you, because…"

Jenna brought her mouth up beside Sheba's ear.

"… it worked," she whispered triumphantly, and both parties broke out into huge grins. Sheba squealed.

"WHAT?" Sheba exclaimed exuberantly, her tears drying up as though under the sun of the Lamakan Desert. "Since when?"

"Since I helped him downstairs after the surgery," she answered, beaming. "I told him everything, and he said that he liked me too."

"Jenna, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

And she was. Sheba felt her heart jump up ten feet in the air. The feeling was exactly as she had hoped it would be; even though there had been unnecessary heartbreak along the way, she was overcome with joy that her friends were… what were they, exactly?

"So…" Sheba questioned, "what exactly _are_ you two?"

"Not a clue," Jenna replied. "We have to talk again pretty soon here. To be honest, I thought that it would be him to come and knock on my door first, not you."

"We'll wait until he comes, then," said Sheba. "I'll keep you company. Besides, we haven't had a girls night in a while. We've been busy saving the world."

Jenna smiled brightly.

"I'd like that," she agreed.

Isaac had been in his room for over fifteen minutes after finishing his conversation with Piers, trying to collect his thoughts. He was nervous – this was the girl he had liked to some degree, for as long as he could remember liking girls. What if tonight ended in kissing? He didn't know how to do that at all.

He washed himself off twice, in an attempt to rid himself unnatural amounts of perspiration he was producing. Jenna had never made him this nervous before. It wasn't like they had never had a deep conversation before - they had been the closest of friends, and then there was their conversation on the dock right before the boulder fell…

There was no other event in his life from before the fall of the Boulder that Isaac remembered with such clarity. Even as he thought about it, the memory of that conversation gave him some much needed confidence. He had handled that night-he could deal with this one, too.

He got up off of his bed and made his way to the other side of the ship, to Jenna's room. As he moved to knock on the door, however, his hand stopped at the sound of feminine laughter from inside.

He heard Jenna's infectious laughter as it combined with Sheba's high-pitched giggle. He couldn't interrupt this reconciliation, he rationalized. He turned to walk away.

A few steps later, he stopped himself. He needed to handle this tonight. He turned around again.

"Isaac!" came a voice from the other end of the hallway. "Isaac! There you are!"

It was Ivan.

"Come on, we've been looking for you everywhere. We're having a reunion party in me and Garet's room,"

"_My and Garet's room," _Isaac corrected internally.

"What reunion party?" the Venus adept inquired.

"The four of us! You, me, Garet, and Mia. Come on!"

Isaac glanced back at Jenna's door once more. There was always time tomorrow.

"Alright," he agreed. "Let's go!"

Long after the rest of the boat had fallen asleep, the Isaac, Ivan, Garet, and Mia labored to extend the night for as long as they could-the evening had been a fantastic idea, and the young adepts were having a great time as they recounted their favorite tales, including the first time that Ivan had worked together with Garet and Isaac to defeat the thieves in Vault.

"And then he was all like, 'We'll just have to kill you all to make our getaway!'" said Ivan as he waved his hand in the air madly, imitating the bandit leader. "I just remember thinking, 'How _stupid_ can you guys be? You're about to get your shit _rocked_.'"

Everyone but Mia roared with laughter in memory of the three dim-witted thieves. She had heard the story many times before and enjoyed it immensely, though she hadn't been there.

"_My_ favorite when Isaac insisted we go back to Altin to rescue Hsu," Mia said slyly. "More like make sure he stayed under the boulder so that Isaac could have Feizhi all to himself."

"Hey now, guys," said Ivan in mock seriousness.

Garet shook with the effort of holding down the volume of his laughter, and Mia grinned mischievously.

"Guys!" Ivan falsely threatened again. "Isaac doesn't '_like Feizhi that way_.' He just wants to '_do the right thing and help people_.'"

"Oh, so that's what you kids are calling it these days," Garet quipped, biting his lip in an effort to finish his sentence without laughing.

Ivan and Garet roared even louder than before, nearly falling to the floor. To Isaac's dismay, not even Mia was trying to hide her laughter. Her normally reserved manner had all but vanished, and she laughed just as loudly as the other two boys. Isaac, in contrast, had turned redder than Garet's hair.

"But I _don't_," Isaac argued in vain, which only brought more laughs from the group.

"Okay, okay," said Isaac, preparing to go on the offensive, "the situation with Feizhi was funny, I'll admit it, but what about that one time that Garet tried to use his 'good looks' to pry the key to the barricade away from the guard who he thought was a girl?"

Now it was Garet's turn to be embarrassed. It made sense to him at the time, after all. The guard had long, dark hair, a slim body, and wasn't moving. It was sometimes hard to tell what gender the guards were beneath their long uniforms. Isaac wasn't cutting Garet any slack, though-Ivan and Mia laughed as Isaac built up the anticipation."

"… so the guard listened to Garet that whole time. Didn't say a word. But at the end, the guard said…"

Mia and Ivan joined in at this point.

" **'****_Talk to you when I get off, cutie!' _**"

The walls seemed to shake with their laughs. Perhaps it was Ivan, however, who had legitimately fallen on the floor.

"That was the _deepest _voice I have ever heard!" Ivan howled.

"You should have taken him up on it, Garet," Mia said, as she wiped a tear of laughter from her cheeks. "He was a sexy man if I ever saw one."

"It was a good idea!" Garet groaned. "It just didn't work out right."

"That's what you think," Ivan playfully. "It wasn't that it didn't work out right – I think it was a great idea. You just didn't take it far enough is all."

Garet grinned in spite of the insult, and joined in the laughter.

"Get out of my-_yawn-_room!" he shot playfully.

Isaac and Mia immediately caught the yawning virus.

"What time is it?" Ivan asked, looking on his bedside table for the small clock they kept there.

Garet joined him in searching and ducked behind his headboard.

"Found it!" said Garet, who emerged from behind his bed with the timepiece in hand. "It's half past one."

"It's getting late," said Mia.

"It's been late," Ivan corrected. "I've had fun tonight, guys. We should do this again soon, but I need to go to bed."

"Yeah, I think so, too," replied Isaac. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Or the afternoon," said Garet, who fluffed his pillow several times.

"Or the afternoon," Isaac agreed.

He left the room grinning. That had been a fun night. He always found it interesting that Mia played with the boys so well. A peculiar sensation of happiness bubbled up from some internal source. This sensation was one that he had not felt in the longest time, and for a moment, he couldn't quite place it.

He smiled internally as he realized what the feeling was – it was the sensation of _home_. Their proud Lemurian ship, in spite of all of its shortcomings, was his home. There was pain and joy; there was work and play; there was struggle and success. It was a safe place, where trouble could take a backseat to internal peace. He had not felt this sensation since the morning that he and Garet left Vale on their quest to save the world, and he had not realized how much he had missed having a place he could call home.

He opened the door to his room, and immediately made his way to the small sink in the bathroom adjacent to his room. He washed off his face and promptly made his way to his bed. On closer inspection, he noticed a small note just below his pillows. He picked it up – it was half the size of a normal piece of paper, folded into thirds, and there was nothing on the outside-not even a seal.

He opened the piece of paper; there was a single sentence on the inside.

"_See me on deck in the morning. _

_–Felix_"

At that moment, Isaac realized that Felix had probably heard about him and Jenna. In fact, there was no way that he hadn't. Isaac allowed himself to release a resigned sigh.

"This is gonna be a fun one," Isaac thought to himself.

**I have a question for YOU, my beloved and loyal reader - what did you think of my first chapter in almost six months?**

**I hope nothing in here seems forced. I finally finished this chapter, so I'm thinking about picking this story back up, at the very least. This chapter certainly moved in the direction that I wanted it to. My only concern about this chapter was how little time actually passed; this gaudy monstrosity was over 6,000 words long, but it spanned only the length of an evening in the story. I still have an entire day of conversation to write… As I'm sure you all know by now, I consider dialogue my weakest point. **

**I have two points to make: **

**First, a clarification - I don't think my actual spoken dialogue is weak; I try very hard to make it realistic. The weak point in my dialogue is details; I feel like I am unable to put in as much narration as I believe is necessary during the dialogue sequences. If anyone besides me has thoughts on that, I would certainly appreciate it. **

**And for the second, a storyline note - I got all of the conversations done that I promised, with the exception of Mia and Jenna - I decided that Sheba's characterization needed more work than Mia's did at the moment. I (tentatively) expect the next chapter to be very Mia-centric. She did not make as much of an appearance in this chapter as I would have liked, and I hope that I will rectify that to everyone's satisfaction. **

**Thanks again to all of my reviewers. And, just so you all know, if you leave a signed review, please note that I will be returning EVERY review that I receive from now on. **

**Thanks again, everybody! I've had a blast writing this new chapter, and I'm hoping to write more in the near future. The title for this chapter is dedicated to this community, for subconsciously nudging me to get back to work on this story. It's going to be nice to be writing for you guys again. **


	13. A Gray Morning

**Here we go with another chapter!**

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**My most sincere thanks go out to this ever-growing list of reviewers: LordRandomness, yuko1909, Hrvstmn31 , Joe, nanotaz, Trauerbrandung, …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. It is you guys who convince me that this story is worth continuing.**

Tundra

Chapter 13: A Gray Morning

The next morning, the overcast sky hung motionless over the ship, lingering on as a memoir of the monstrous storm. The gray titans leeched the sun's light from the sky, extending the sense of night several hours into the morning. Having no impetus – either light or duty – to wake them, the crew remained asleep for a long time.

That being the case, Jenna was happy to be the first one awake – she nibbled contentedly on her hot toast on the rear of the ship, savoring the early morning air, occasionally straightening her hair with the fingers of her free hand. For as long as she could remember, she had marveled at the beauty of a cloudy sky. It was incredible to her, in a desolate sort of way. She wrapped her outer layer a little bit tighter – the sun's absence made for much cooler morning weather than she could bear in her usual clothing.

She tossed the crust of her bread out behind the ship, watching as the small fish in the area made ripples in the bay's calm water, struggling for whatever scraps of the waterlogged bread they could get their mouths around. She put her hair up behind her with the rubber band she wore around her left wrist as she watched. Not a minute later, the bread was gone, and the water was once again still – Jenna could see the reflection of the boat in the water quite clearly.

A moment later, a surprising gust of wind came in from her left, and the reflection of the boat in the water became distorted, like an image through broken glass. The gust also, to Jenna's annoyance, whipped her face with her new ponytail. She backed away from the side of the ship and sat down with her back against rear wall of the entrance to the ship's decks, shivering slightly at the rapid drop in temperature.

She pulled her legs up tightly to her chest, and was about to stand up and go back inside when she heard the door open, followed by the sound of Isaac's voice. He was angry.

"… what you think, but I'm _not_ going to hurt your sister, Felix," Isaac said expressly. "I won't let anyone else hurt her either. I'm going to make her happy and I'm going to protect her. That includes from you."

A pause.

"_What_?" Felix asked incredulously.

"I don't think you're ready to let her go," Isaac countered, "but she's not your baby sister anymore! She's seventeen! I'm not the only one who wants this; she does too, and if you thinking pushing me away from her will make her happy, then you're out of your mind. She's grown up, Felix; she had to. Or did you forget that you let her think you were dead for three years?"

Isaac had hit a soft spot, and he knew it. The silence that spread through the air hung over the ship like a thundercloud. Felix did not respond. Jenna heard footsteps followed by the click of a doorknob. She peered around the corner and saw Isaac slump down on to the floor with his back against the wall. He sighed audibly.

Jenna popped her head out of sight as Isaac turned around. Should she show herself?

"I see you, Jenna," Isaac said to the wall that stood between them, answering her question.

She stepped out from her not-quite-a-hiding-place and sat down next to him. She didn't really know what to say, so she grasped his hand in hers.

"I don't remember him ever being this… difficult!" Isaac exclaimed, clenching his fists in frustration.

"I'm sorry about my brother, Isaac," Jenna apologized. "He just... he tries his best to keep everyone here safe. It gets to him when he feels like he can't do it. Please don't be so hard on him. He means well."

Isaac took a deep breath. Jenna snuggled her head on his right shoulder.

"If it makes you feel any better," she said, "I appreciate what you said about making me happy and protecting me. I have butterflies."

"You get butterflies?" Isaac teased.

She dug her elbow playfully into his side, but squeezed his hand tighter.

"So you don't mind if Felix isn't exactly… _happy_ about us?" Isaac probed.

"Nope," Jenna stated simply. "As long as you keep your promise."

"I can handle that," Isaac replied.

"Good," said Jenna. "Otherwise I'll have Felix kick you off the boat."

This time, it was Jenna who received a playful elbow in the ribs. She giggled as Isaac's arm tickled her side.

"WAH!" she squealed as she made a half-effort to squirm away from him. "Stop it, Isaac!"

She turned her head to the right, shielding her eyes from him. She stole an occasional glance back; Isaac remained right where he was, not breaking his eyes away from her. A mischievous smile played about his face. Jenna turned away again.

The next time she looked back, he was six inches from her face. Her heart jumped ten feet inside her chest, but she herself didn't budge. She didn't know how she hadn't heard him move so close.

"Isaac," she whispered – partly a question, partly an answer, and partly an invitation.

Invisible ropes closed like nooses around her chest, deflating her lungs. She tried harder and harder to breathe, but with each passing microsecond, it became that much more diffic…

And suddenly, her lips touched Isaac's. She wasn't sure if it was her who had moved, or if it was him, but their lips touched – softly at first, so tenderly, and then suddenly she felt her back fall down on the floor of the deck as his lips pressed themselves into hers. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment as her hands surrounded Isaac's rippling back; as his strong arms pulled her closer and closer to his body; as she began to sweat from the pressure of her nervous system. She inhaled the morning air through her nose, each breath reminding her how truly alive she was.

And the gray morning went on.

Heat and anger raged unimpeded out of Felix's cheeks and nose as he went back down to his room. It wasn't just Isaac who had angered him – their little row had been mostly his fault, and some part of him knew it. He wasn't in the mood for being honest to himself, though. He was frustrated with himself, with how he seemed to be falling apart so close to the end of their journey.

He ran his hands back through his jet-black hair, as though he could somehow comb out his frustrations with his calloused hands. He was glad to see that Piers was already up and gone; he rather preferred to be alone.

He hadn't slept well the previous night. The Lady in White made another appearance, though this time he wasn't sure if it was actually her, or if his own mind had conjured her image. He was quite suspicious of the latter; the Lady had been angry at him, though for why, he did not understand. In his dream, Mars Lighthouse had been lit, and everyone had escaped the battle unscathed.

Felix stood in front of his companions, looking them in the eyes as if he were a general. Those nine people in front of him were some of the bravest he had ever met, Felix thought to himself.

Wait. Nine?

He looked down the line. Isaac, Ivan, Sheba, Jenna, Kraden, Garet, Piers, Mia…

And there, at the end of the line, stood the Lady. She did not shine as bright as she had in his previous dreams. Rather, she looked dull – like a gray morning sky. She looked down at the snowy ground beneath her feet. It was then that Felix noticed that she was crying.

He asked her why she wept, to which she replied, "So that she does not have to."

"Who?" Felix asked.

"Mia," the Lady responded, as though it were obvious.

"Mia?" Felix said, shifting his gaze to the healer's cerulean eyes.

But Mia said nothing. She continued to stare off into the distance, without any emotion. As she did so, the beautiful color seemed to drain out of her eyes, until they became gray like the Lady's entire body.

"You failed," accused the Lady quietly. "You let her die."

"But she's alive!" exclaimed Felix.

"Death comes not only by the sword, Felix," the Lady preached, her voice growing louder and more hurt with every word, "or have you learned nothing?"

And then, Mia never moved again.

Felix shook himself mentally – it had been a terrible dream.

"I wonder if I'm going insane," he mused internally.

He thought about it briefly. He could say with a fair amount of certainty that he wasn't insane, but he did have his doubts at times. Those doubts weren't usually random, though. More often, something caused him to question his sanity; like Isaac, or angelic demigoddesses, or Mia.

Mia – what a conundrum. How was he supposed to tell a girl like that how he felt, especially now? It was a different world here on the ship. Out on the ice, everything was so secluded and cold – Mia had seemed like the only source of warmth, her fire shaping and bending and melting every corner of his heart. It was impossible to ignore the one, omnipresent source of warmth on the desolate terrain on which they had landed.

Now, the contrast wasn't quite so stark – being back on the ship dulled the area in between the warm and the cold. There were other sources of warmth here – his other companions, his devotion to their quest, the physical warmth of the ship itself – that stuck themselves between him and Mia. Yet, his feelings remained noticeably strong. Even as he tried to shake them from his thoughts with his montra – the quest, the quest, the quest – they reappeared just as quickly as they exited his mind.

Felix, for the first time he could remember after returning to Vale to steal the Elemental Star, felt helpless. The problems of the world outside him seemed easily solvable compared to the travails of his heart. He had several choices, he knew – he could talk to Mia, and confront the feelings head-on, but somehow, he knew that wasn't the right answer. He didn't see any great hero in himself, no matter what the Lady had said.

He remembered the stories he had been told in Vale as a child. They brimmed with inspiring heroes, blossoming romances, and happy endings. All of those stories were yanked away from him when he was kidnapped and taken to Prox. There, he learned the lore of the Fire Clan, and its history. Much like the icy world in which they lived, the legends of the Proxians were similarly cold and dark. There were no happy endings in their universe, only tales of fated endings, warnings against dishonor, and always the one overwhelming message: it is both futile and necessary to battle the inevitable.

Having grown in both worlds, Felix was never sure which ideology to believe; in his struggle with Mia, he found the essence of his internal battle made manifest. Could he take his fate into his own hands, or was his life already written down somewhere, a predestined journey?

Felix stood up from his bed, shook himself, and took a habitual step back from his situation, trying to see the big picture. He detached himself from the situation, and thought rationally. He was in a sour mood, he knew, while the rest of the group was in high spirits; he was pondering the nature of life while his friends considered getting out of bed for the day. He had not slept soundly since the advent of his first dream about the Lady, and the previous night was no exception; he was exhausted, while everyone was as rested as they had been in weeks.

Felix felt a familiar pang in his stomach, born of isolation. Holding the reigns of leadership meant that there wasn't space for anyone else to get close to him. That was what his experience had taught him, at least; he had always accepted it as his personal burden to bear over the course of his quest. Right now, though, strong and silent Felix felt an empty space inside his chest, and did not know how to fill it.

Follow your heart, the Lady had told Felix. He grimaced internally. How was he supposed to follow his heart if it seemed to pull him in a hundred different directions simultaneously?

Then, there was a knock on the door.

"Felix?"

And the ebon-haired Adept felt his internal organs rise to his stomach, and a smile stretched across his face.

"Come in, Mia," he replied, standing up to open the door.

Felix was surprised as Mia's features came in to view. She hadn't yet changed out of her pajamas; her light-blue nightgown hung at her kneecaps, and her azure hair was as of yet uncombed. Most importantly, her eyes were absolutely bloodshot.

"Mia?" Felix asked, ushering her inside. "What's the matter?"

She stepped past the door and shut it behind her. The entire back of her nightgown was drenched with sweat.

"I had a dream last night," said Mia.

He beckoned her to sit down on the side of his bed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We were at the top of Mars Lighthouse…" she started, "and we were about to throw in the Mars Star. You said that there might not be a great power after all."

She coughed, dehydrated from the sweat-filled night. Felix quickly retrieved a cup of water from his sink and offered it to Mia.

"Drink up," he encouraged.

She drank in small sips, but did not stop drinking until she drained the entire glass.

"Thanks," she said with a gasp. "So, we were going to throw in the Mars Star, and you said that we wouldn't have a fight, and all of a sudden Ply came up the elevator. She told you to prepare to fight."

Felix listened impassively.

"Then, all of a sudden, a voice from the sky said that the Lady would be the end of the world, and… we-we fought something. Some demon, but we won easily. Then, the she gave you a little push, and told you t-to light the beacon. You threw the Mars Star in, and then…"

She paused to swallow.

"Then, her faced stopped being white. Two horns came out of her head, and she had fangs, and… She… you were just looking at her blankly, and she grabbed you and flew into the center of the lighthouse, straight through the beacon. She came back up without you, and after a second, the beacon-it turned blood-red…"

She shivered and wrapped her arms around Felix's torso.

"Then, the lighthouse began to crumble, and I-I just… _knew_ that the world was ending."

She pulled herself closer.

"It was just… so _real_. It felt like how you described your first dream with the her… I… I don't know what to think…"

As he held Mia tightly to his chest, his mind wandered back to his thoughts of life and death, of fate and choice, of all or nothing. As he did, he wondered: why shouldn't a happy medium be possible? Why hadn't he thought of it before? How far had the snowstorm dipped his senses into Lethe?

"It's going to be alright, Mia," he assured her, echoing his words from their secluded hut on the iceflow.

This time, however, he meant it with absolute certainty. Mia wasn't convinced.

"What if Hama's great power wants to stop the Lady?" said Mia. "How can you be sure?"

Felix thought very carefully before responding.

"I… I can't tell you exactly why, but… let me explain. Do you remember when we went back to Lemuria, and Piers's uncle showed us Lemurian poetry?"

"Yeah… I remember. Why?" she asked, puzzled.

"I think… well, it's like a Lemurian Aria. Nine lines; ten syllables in the first two lines, eight in the next two, six in the middle, eight in the next two, and ten on the last two; the odd lines rhyme, and even lines rhyme; lines one and three and lines nine and seven have masculine rhyme; lines two and four and lines six and eight have feminine rhyme."

"How did you remember all of that?" Mia asked, incredulous.

"I asked King Hydros if I could take a copy of one of the poems with me," he replied. "I've looked at it to figure out what the form is. And that's my point. It's like a Lemurian Aria because the form is so strict. The things that will happen in our lives _will_ happen. What we do is how we write the poem."

"That was really deep, Felix," Mia said as she looked up at him. "I mean, that was really deep. That actually makes sense… What prompted this?"

"Maybe the Lady is evil," Felix proposed, "but maybe she isn't. Maybe there is a great power trying to stop us, but maybe there isn't. What choices do we have? We face it or we don't. We take care of each other, or we don't. And I will _not_ fail."

"It's been a while since I heard you this sure of yourself, Felix," she said simply.

"I haven't been sleeping very well," he replied apologetically. "It's about time I straightened up."

She smiled slightly, though Felix didn't even break a grin. She knew he was being humorous.

"Glad to have you back," she said.

Felix felt his stomach jump to attention at this. The way she placed just a little more emphasis on "have you" than was necessary made him wonder how she felt about him – but not enough to ask her.

"Thank you," he replied.

"I think you're the one who needs to be thanked," Mia replied, a nervous edge creeping in to her voice. "Especially after everything you've done for me over the past few days. I-It means a lot to me."

Felix said nothing, sensing that Mia's statement was unfinished.

"You've been so kind to me, and… just, thank you."

She moved toward him, until her face was less than a foot from his. As the distance between them closed, however, she grew nervous. At the last instant, she turned her face away and instead wrapped him up with her arms.

"I'll see you later, Felix," she said, and she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"What's gotten into her?" Felix thought to himself.

Somehow, he knew there was something wrong with that interaction. It felt… strained. It was so unlike their conversations of the past few days, and Felix grew nervous that he had done or said something to hurt Mia's feelings. But, she had just said thank you "for everything he had done for her." And she had come to his room for help and comfort. Those didn't seem like the actions of someone whose feelings were hurt. Why, then, did their relationship feel so different?

A wave of exhaustion overcame Felix. The days on the ice, coupled with the lack of sleep, began to get to him. He plopped back down on his bed, and drifted off into a comparatively less troubled sleep. Or, he tried to. However, not even ten minutes later, a strange sound coming from the deck beckoned him upstairs.

Mia gritted her teeth in frustration as she walked down the hall. That moment had been _perfect_, and she hadn't taken it. Her entire relationship with Felix was utterly complicated, she mused. Felix was the leader – she wasn't too sure of the boundaries, whatever they were, that existed because of his responsibilities. They had hardly spoken since they were back on the boat, which had been normal before they had fallen off together. On top of that, she was the girl, and _she_ was the one pursuing him. She was unsure how she was supposed to be behaving, but it felt backwards that she was the one who actively sought out his affections.

And on the topic of affections, she wasn't even sure if he felt the same way as she did. Sure, they had spent two of their nights on the ice in each other's embrace; perhaps Felix would have done that for anyone who asked him. It wasn't really a big leap to take. He was the most selfless person she had ever met.

Mia wasn't too sure, though. Felix's heartbeat, his hands, and the way he had opened up to her all nagged at her doubts; they all pointed that he felt the same way. After all, they were both happy to see their other friends again, happy that everyone else was for the most part unharmed. Felix had other people to worry about besides her. Maybe it was too early in the morning to make a judgment.

Mia made her way back to her room and got dressed. As she made her way to the deck, she heard the sounds of laughter and cheering.

She opened the door to see Ivan surrounded by Piers, Isaac, Sheba, Garet, and Jenna.

"Do another one, Ivan!" Sheba shouted gleefully.

Ivan said nothing in response, but crouched and proceeded to perform a standing backflip. He landed perfectly on his feet.

"Can you do anything fancier?" asked Garet enthusiastically.

"Back up a little bit and I'll show you," said Ivan.

Garet obliged and moved out of the way. Ivan backed up out of the circle, put his hands on the ground, and raised himself up in the air. He balanced there for a second before taking one arm off of the ground. He remained suspended in that position for a moment before putting his arm slowly back on the floor; then, he cocked his arms and forced himself into half of a backflip, landing back on his feet.

"Daaaang!" said Garet. "I wish I could do that!"

"Hahaha! Yeah right, Garet," Jenna shot. "You've got less balance than a fat man sharing a seesaw with a toddler!"

"Hey, I do too have balance," Garet retorted, who began to jump up and down on his left foot. "Watch!"

"Wow," Jenna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay, so I can't do that," admitted Garet, "but I bet I could do twenty pushups with you standing on my back."

"I'll take those odds," said Jenna confidently. "Get down then."

Garet obliged, and Jenna stood up on his back. Mia moved closer to the rest of the group, who had begun to count out loud.

"One! Two! Three! Fo…"

Garet churned out the pushups like it was nothing. Jenna stood on his back, which was straight as a board.

"…Ten! Eleven! Twelve! Thirt…"

He began to slow down, though his form was still perfect.

"Eighteen!"

His arms began to shake, and a couple beads of sweat dripped off of his forehead.

"Nineteen!"

With a huge breath, Garet went all the way down to the floor, struggling with the effort of holding up his friend's weight. He pushed all the way back up. And, with a grin, twisted his body to the side, causing Jenna to fall off to the side.

"Who has no balance again?" Garet taunted, as Jenna nursed her dignity.

She merely scoffed in his direction as Piers, Sheba, and Mia laughed behind them.

"So, who else has a cool talent we didn't know about?" asked Piers with a laugh.

"I can speed read," Jenna intoned.

"Interesting," quipped Sheba.

"I was sort of hoping someone could sing…" said Ivan.

"I can sing a little bit," said Mia shyly.

"Really?" asked Piers, who was apparently delighted. "I can play the ritolla."

The others looked at him blankly.

"I believe you all call it a flute," he said. "I've had plenty of time to learn it, after all. Let me fetch it from inside."

Not twenty seconds later Piers was back, with a small little flute made of a white stone similar to the material used to make Lemurian buildings. He played through a few scales to warm himself up, and smiled when he was done.

"I haven't played in quite a while, I'm afraid, and I don't know any local favorites," Piers apologized, "but I think I can help, at the very least. You start, Mia. I'll see what I can do."

"Oh goodness… I don't know what to sing!" said Mia. "What songs do you all know?"

"Do you know 'The Gray Man'?" said Felix, who stood under the door.

_An interesting choice, Felix,_ thought Mia.

"Ah! I do know that one!" said Piers. "That song has been sung even in Lemuria. I do believe our good friend Lunpa brought it to us."

"I know it too," said Mia.

"Let's hear it then!" said Sheba enthusiastically.

And Mia began to sing. She closed her eyes, and escaped into the melody.

It was the story of a man whose wish was to see others by what was in their souls. His wish was granted. He surrounded himself with many wonderful people whose souls were full of life and color. However, there came a day when he saw a perfectly still pond, and in it saw his own reflection. He saw that his own soul was not so colorful as he imagined it would be. In fact, he was utterly gray. The man despaired, and wandered alone for the rest of his life.

As Mia let the last note fade, she opened her eyes again. Though it was a sad song – it brought tears to her eyes every time she sang it – she always felt the most incredible catharsis when she did.

"Mia… that was incredible," said Jenna.

"Thanks," the healer replied, embarrassed.

"We should start a troupe," Ivan joked. "We've got so much talent, we'd barely have to work. We'd be rich no time! Just think… We've got a strong man, a wise man, a singer, a musician, an acrobat, and eight adepts!"

"And Ivan, the most annoying man in the world!" Garet said, imitating an announcer.

"Har har har," Ivan replied, grinning.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," interrupted Felix, "but it is about time for us to get moving. We could use that acrobatic balance to get this ship up in the air."

Ivan gave Felix a glare.

"You totally just stole my thunder," Ivan said, feigning hurt feelings.

Felix said nothing, and began to pull the anchor up from the bottom of the sea. He paused only to give Mia a small glance that not even she noticed.

Everyone else followed Felix's example, and not half an hour later, they were out at sea.

Mia watched from the back of boat again as they sailed away from the iceflow. It looked so harmless now, the overcast sky blending with the dirtied gray and white mountaintops on the horizon. They had been there for only a few days, and yet it had seemed like forever. Now, they were off to Prox.

Mia wondered, as the sailed further and further north, about her dream. She felt the fear growing within her stomach – she was scared, because she didn't know how to fight this enemy, this uncertainty. She didn't even know what it would look like when it appeared.

She was afraid to die. Gaia waterfall was the sum of all of her fears – emptiness, darkness, and death. As they drew ever closer, she felt her hope fade. All she could do was resign herself to the inevitable, and hope that it was not her fate to die, to fail, to become so terribly alone.

She started slightly as Felix stepped up to the railing next to her.

"Piers is piloting the ship," said Felix. "I wanted to tell you something after you finished singing… It was beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you," she said.

"You don't… have to be alone, you know?" he said, stumbling over his words.

Mia blinked.

"Like the man, I mean."

Felix paused. Mia shivered as a cold wind rushed across the deck.

"I… I feel really honest, at the moment. I-I've never felt like I really _understood_ someone, until this morning. I mean, really, truly understood. But I do, Mia. I… know how you feel. I know how it feels to shoulder a burden that no one else around you shares, to… feel like you could die tomorrow, and not know what to do with today. I do. And I promise you aren't alone, in any of it – the dreams, the hurt, the… the heartache. I feel it all too. If I have to carry it on my own, then so be it, but not you. Not you."

Mia felt a tear drop from her cheek. It splashed on the deck as Felix took her hand. She felt a warmth course through her entire body, wrapping her up in its aura. She closed her eyes, and this time felt no uncertainty; when Felix's lips touched hers, everything was right.

And, for a moment, a small ray of light broke through the gray sky.

**And we have reached the end of another chapter! A lot of stuff happened, character-wise anyway. Don't worry – I promise that everyone's character conflicts have not been totally sorted out yet. There's still plenty left to do! **

**As usual, what did you like, and what did you not like? I thought the dialogue was weak, as always. I did, however, try to use motifs and themes here, which I've never done before. If you noticed and/or enjoyed that, do tell me. I hope I resolved the lapse of interaction between Mia and Felix to everyone's complete satisfaction. I wasn't actually planning on that bit it the end, but it happened. I think everything will still work that I have planned for the rest of the story. **

**Sorry about the delay on this one, and it's a little bit shorter than the recent ones have been, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Those were a little bit long. Sorry also if this seemed a little bit disorganized. I really wanted to get this one done so that I could get back to some of the action scenes which I personally think I do much better.**

**For the next chapter… Viva la Lighthouse! I'm not sure when it will be finished (or started, for that matter), but I think it will go much faster. I very much expect the action to be stronger in Ch. 14, which means I will write it much better. I hope. **

**This next part is somewhat bittersweet... I've been writing this for well over a year now, and I am still committed to finishing it. Though it probably won't happen before the release of Dark Dawn and the subsequent influx of new fan fiction, I want to thank all of the loyal fans of GS who have been reading this since early on in its publication. If this is the last chapter that I publish before November 29th, then thank you all so much for your dedication. I'm deeply honored, and have been glad to contribute something, however small, to this community. Thank you all so very much. Even though the Old Guard is probably going to be dying out very quickly here, I want this story to remain a small tribute to their legacy. **

**-bows-**

**Until the next chapter, my friends.**


	14. Prox

**I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.**

**To all of my wonderful reviewers: DropOfInk, Rizaidym, GraysonPaladin, Wostvely, PinayAngelisaBEAST, DuchessOfDementia, valeshippingftw, LordOfRandomness, yuko1909, Hrvstmn31 , Joe, nanotaz, Trauerbrandung, …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, allbluewitness, UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. As always, I can't thank you guys enough.**

**There's not going to be a whole lot more to this story… It is rapidly coming to a close. Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this story so special, reviewers and readers alike.**

**Without further ado, I present the fourteenth installment of Tundra.**

Tundra

Chapter 14: Prox

The characteristic element of the Proxians was Fire. It gave the people of the north heat – a brief and welcome reprieve from the bitter, relentless blizzards that were more common than the sun. It gave their people an inner strength, and allowed them to survive the harshest conditions that could be found on Weyard. That was what their legends said.

Given the land's current state, Isaac didn't agree. He walked behind the rest of the group as they made their way from the ship – forced by the ice to moor well to the south of the city – to the edge of Prox. The wind howled too loudly to allow for any conversation. Instead, his eyes searched all around him, taking in the terrain. Though the snow reached up to the bottom of his knees, he could see the remains of what looked like farms, abandoned and left to wither in the unnatural cold.

The dunes of ever-forming snow around Prox did not seemed moved by the plight of the families that used to plow its land, fighting tooth and nail for anything they got, now impoverished and awaiting the end of the world – inevitable as it was. Just as impassively, the dunes watched nine companions from foreign lands march slowly toward Prox.

Isaac had always wondered what it would feel like to finally arrive in Prox. He had thought that there would be, depending on the circumstances, fanfare, or perhaps that he would be hot on the heels of Saturos and Menardi. Not once had he imagined this hopeless, indifferent trudge toward some unwelcome fate.

He felt his soul sink at the thought, and he tried to conjure happier things to his mind. He instinctively looked at Jenna, who walked next to him, but he saw in her eyes only the same fear that he felt in his heart. He said nothing, but took her hand in his and let her know, silently, that she wasn't alone.

As the minutes drew on, Isaac allowed his mind to become lost in the simple rhythm of his footsteps and felt himself slowly float away from his body, away from the frosty wind that bit at his face and hands through his scarf and gloves. He remained in this state of escape until the wooden palisades that fortified Prox became visible through the thick snow.

As they entered the village, Isaac realized with a jolt that in a matter of moments, he would be reunited with his father. What would his father think of him now? Would he be proud? Would he notice the utter transformation from a scrawny boy who could barely lift an axe to chop wood to a chiseled manling who could carry a full suit of armor with ease? Isaac could barely even remember how his father had looked. It seemed like so long ago that the Boulder had fallen.

The blond Adept tried in vain to shake the nervousness off as they passed through the gates. He noticed at once that the wind no longer buffeted his face so fiercely, though the cold was as omnipresent as ever. Isaac looked to Jenna, and saw again the same images in Jenna's eyes that occupied his own: one of anxiety and uncertainty. She hadn't seen her parents in three years either.

The Proxians seemed surprised, even the slightest bit wary, that Felix had returned to the village. Agiato had not expected them to come; he and Karst had opted to scale the Lighthouse on their own – the beacon remained unlit, though they had been gone for a long while. When the villagers said this to Felix, it carried an undercurrent: they had been gone too long, and hope was lost.

Isaac, however, gave these key details little more than cursory attention – he looked everywhere, trying to decide which house held his father, but the wooden, snow-covered buildings of Prox all looked the same to him. Everything here looked the same: it was despair made tangible. The bright feelings that Isaac had hoped would accompany his reunion with his father were utterly absent.

It was then that Isaac heard Felix speak, and his ears perked.

"And my parents? Are they well?" he asked.

"Felix, your parents have… disappeared," said one Proxian girl. "We don't know where they went."

And Isaac knew at once why he had not felt the warmth of a reunion filling up his chest.

"I see," said Felix, as though he understood. "I need to speak to Puelle then, and before it gets any later. Where is he?"

Isaac stood motionless. What was Felix doing? Why wasn't he angry?

"He's on the north edge of the village, watching for the beacon," she replied.

Felix nodded in reply and turned around, apparently to go and find this Puelle. The girl, seeing that the conversation was over, moved away and hastily entered a house to the west. Felix made no show of the fact that Isaac's father – whom he had not seen in _years_ – was missing. That did not sit well with Isaac.

"Felix!"

The dark-haired warrior did not respond, but started walking away, in the direction of Puelle.

"Felix!" Isaac echoed sharply.

"Enough, Isaac," he said, invoking no emotion.

"ENOUGH?" Isaac screamed, closing the distance between himself and Felix, and drawing the attention of the few villagers who remained outside. "I HAVEN'T SEEN MY FATHER SINCE I WAS FOURTEEN! FOURTEEN!"

A tear fell down Isaac's right cheek as he grasped the front of Felix's shirt with both fists, shaking him violently.

"WHERE – IS – MY – FATHER?"

The echoes of his rage faded into the northern winds. Neither one seemed willing to break eye contact. Isaac's blue eyes stormed with fury and poured out silent, continuous tears; Felix's deep brown eyes said nothing. They stood there, wordlessly, for over a minute, faces within inches of each other, as the rest of the group looked on in shock. Then, on some wordless cue, Isaac released his hold on Felix and fell to his knees in the snow, his wrath spent.

Isaac sat on the ground as silent sobs racked his body. Every moment that Isaac had ever wished for his father over the past three years fell out of him and onto the snow: every time he had lied to his mother and said that everything was alright, every time he saw a child run and jump into his father's arms, the moments his father had missed – his first shave, the day he grew taller than his mother, his worst mistakes, his greatest successes. The frozen earth ate it all up – impassively.

"We'll find him, Isaac," Felix said with a quiet brand of confidence.

He offered the blond his hand. Isaac looked up, swallowed his tears, and accepted it, pulling himself up to his feet. His breaths were still shaky. Isaac wondered if they would be able to make it to the top of the Lighthouse. He had never known such doubts.

"I must speak with Puelle," said Felix, "and then I will meet you at the inn. It's too late for us to make the trek to the Lighthouse. We'll go tomorrow."

They made their way into the inn. It was warm and homely, which helped to ease Isaac's heart, weary as it was from the dismal entrance. They ate a fine meal of warm bread, soup, and some tender meat none of them had ever tasted before. Though the meal was lovely and their hosts were cordial, conversation at the table was subdued and sparse – a testament to the sense of dread that enveloped the city of Prox.

Almost two hours later, Felix had not returned, and the group began to disperse from the center of the inn. Most of the group went upstairs; Kraden, whose aging immune system had fallen victim to the cold on the way in, took a strong sleeping draught and excused himself to go to bed, saying that he would be fine by morning when the potion wore off. Isaac sat himself on a couch in front of the fireplace and glued his eyes to the crackling flames. He didn't respond as Jenna slid into the square beside him.

"It gets worse with every Lighthouse," Isaac said after a moment. "Every time we climb one, something terrible happens. And here we are, at the end… and all I can think is that we're going to die."

She pulled him closer to her, and buried her head in his side.

"I'm glad you're with me," she said. "Just like the night before the boulder fell."

Isaac paused as the memory resurfaced in his mind, an echo of a part of his life that he almost didn't remember – it seemed like so long ago. The pieces pulled themselves together slowly, slowly, until the scene was complete in Isaac's mind. It had started that evening.

"_Isaac?" cam Kyle's voice from the bottom of the steps. _

_Isaac didn't want to talk to his father. Every time his father had tried to talk to him, it was always about how Isaac wasn't practicing Psynergy enough, wasn't doing his chores, wasn't pulling his weight out in the fields, and the fourteen-year-old just wasn't in the mood to deal with it. He slipped on his shoes and coat and shut his bedroom door behind him, hoping that whatever his father was nagging him to do wouldn't get in the way of what he had on his mind. _

"_Isaac," Kyle asked, "have you done your chores?" _

"_Yes, Dad," Isaac said quickly, rushing out the door and shutting it behind him. _

_So maybe his chores weren't all done, but most of them were at least halfway done. That counted, right? _

_The sunset was already finished, mostly. There were still hints of pink and purple in the night sky, but already it was mostly dark, save the occasional lantern flickering throughout the village. Isaac made his way down to the dock, where he had left Jenna almost half an hour ago._

_As he approached, he noticed that she was wrapped up in a jacket, knees pulled up to her chest; there were tear streaks on her face, now dried. _

"_Sorry," he said hastily. "My parents made me do my chores before I could come back."_

"_It's okay," Jenna said, her nose obviously stuffy from the tears. _

"_There's no reason to be scared," said Isaac. "I'm sure it's just a dream."_

"_It didn't feel like just a dream, Isaac. It felt real, and I thought they were all dead. And I couldn't talk to Felix about it, I just couldn't. I can't talk to him about anything. He doesn't understand, or he doesn't care. He never talks to me about anything either, and with what's happening with my parents, it's not like we have nothing to talk about. I wish I could talk to him… I don't want to have to tell you everything. I _don't _tell you everything…"_

_Isaac sat, trying his hardest not to interject. What could Jenna possibly be keeping from him? He told her everything about his life; at the very least, he told her everything was relevant. And what was this about her parents?_

"_Do you want to talk about it?" Isaac asked her. _

"_No," she said, almost too quickly. "Not at all. Not at all! I don't even want what's going on to be real. Isaac, my parents are fighting all the time. They don't have a nice thing to say about each other, and they don't talk to each other at dinner. It's terrible. I can't even stand to be in the house anymore. Every time I try to ask about it, they tell me to go away, go outside, ignore it, or pretend it isn't happening. And Felix, he doesn't do anything about any of it! He just goes right along with it and pretends that it's normal for my parents to hate each other. He's a coward, and I don't trust him anymore."_

_Her voice quavered with wrath and hurt, and her eyes grew narrow. She shuddered with revulsion, but didn't cry as the pain she had been storing inside herself for month after month finally came to a head and burst through her open mouth. _

"_And I can't help but think it's going to get worse. They call each other the most terrible things, and they go to bed at night without apologizing. I'm afraid of… of everything they do. It seems so pointless, but they keep doing it. What if they leave or they die? I want to stop having nightmares about them dying every night! I don't want to be alone Isaac, and if they don't stop I'm going to be alone!"_

_The last word rang out and then faded behind the low roar of the waterfall behind them. Isaac searched his mind for words or actions, but found nothing. He waited for Jenna to continue. _

"_I don't want to do it anymore, Isaac. I don't want to hear them fight, I don't want to have to trust Felix with this, I don't even want to live. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it."_

_And at that moment, the mask of anger on her face faded, replaced by a stream of tears. As her anger fell away, so too did her will to fight; she slumped onto Isaac's shoulder, unable and unwilling to hold her body upward any longer. The constant battle ground of her home life had left her sapped, and on Isaac's shoulder the strands that held her together came undone. Her body shook under the force of her sobs._

_Isaac was in turmoil. To hear his friend say that she 'didn't want to live' set his mind on overdrive, motoring as hard he could to think of something, of anything, to say that would assuage her doubts and make her feel better. Still, nothing came to him. What could he possibly say to her?_

_So Isaac sat there, holding Jenna tightly to him, and prayed. He prayed for words, and he prayed for the strength to say them. _

"_Jenna," he began, "I… I don't know exactly what to tell you but, um, I-I'm your… your best friend, and I can't bear to see you do this to yourself. I mean, I have no idea what that's like, being in your house right now, but I-I know that… I would miss you too much if you were gone. You're always there for me, and… I'm going to be there when you need me, too."_

_He paused._

"_I don't really know how to say this, but I want you to know that… that I care about you. And I promise I'll always be there when you need help. You don't have to be alone, because you have me."_

_Jenna said nothing, merely pulled Isaac to her a little tighter and continued to stream her tears onto the right side of his shirt. Long after the sun had completely faded behind the hills, Isaac and Jenna sat on the edge of the dock. Isaac sat patiently as her tears abated, her breathing slowed, and finally, she looked up at him – and behind her swollen eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and puffy nose, Isaac could see a small spark of hope in her brown irises. _

"_Thank you -_sniff- _for staying out here with me so late," she said. "It means a lot to me. I'm glad you're here, Isaac."_

_She paused. _

"_But… can you stay for a little while longer?" she asked him._

"_Sure," he replied with a small smile. _

_And so he stayed, until Jenna began to shiver visibly. At that point, he walked back to her door with her, where she pulled him into an enormous embrace before she went inside, shutting the door quietly behind her. _

_Isaac made his way back home as well. He stifled a yawn as he made his way back across the bridge to his house. As he quietly and carefully entered his front door, he thought briefly about waking up his parents to say good night, but instead went straight to bed. After all, moments like that didn't happen every night._

_Not even hours later, the ground began to shake as the Boulder atop Mt. Aleph fell. _

"Seems like another life," Isaac commented. "That was the last night things were ever simple. Right before I left to come see you on the dock."

He paused, and Jenna looked at him quizzically, a little bit hurt.

"But I wouldn't have it any other way."

He looked down at her with his bright blue eyes, his tussled blond hair, and smiled, just slightly. Jenna, unable to stay angry, smiled as well, though like his it was a small thing. A moment later, Isaac's smile faded as a result of his choices at the end of that night.

"I never said good night to my parents, Jenna. I even thought about waking them up. Now my Mom is sick, and we have no clue where my father is."

"I trust Felix," Jenna said in reply. "He hasn't really been wrong yet. If he says they will be okay, then they will be okay."

Blind trust in Felix didn't really suit Isaac, though. But, beside the fire, he didn't feel like a fight was worth it. Instead he snuggled up closer to Jenna, his most wonderful friend, and let himself forget the foreboding monolith of ice and red steel that awaited them. Soon her breathing leveled out, and Isaac too began to doze off. He noticed for a moment that Felix had not returned to the inn, but he pushed the worries aside and basked in the warmth of the beautiful girl in front of him.

As Jenna and Isaac fell asleep on the couch, they didn't notice the slight sound of Mia as she glided across the floor and made her way outside, pulling her coat on as she went.

* * *

Felix had the location fixed in his mind – directly northwest of Prox, he had seen a strange, bluish light that did not belong in the spectrum of dusk as he led the group into the city only a few hours earlier. He had known instantly what it was, but he had kept silent.

As soon as he saw the chance, he separated himself from the group and made his way north, stopping to speak to Puelle only briefly, indicating that they would talk at more length the next morning. He then snuck around the edge of the village, moving hastily out of sight of the light emanating from the windows, and into the shadows of the mountains to the east.

Looking back every so often to make sure that he could find his way back later, Felix made his way deeper into the endless snowdrifts. She was here. She had to be here. He trudged purposefully through the freezing whiteness at his feet, always careful to move in a straight path.

He walked for over an hour without a sign of life. He stopped and scanned the landscape, looking for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing. The landscape was clear from where he stood to the horizon.

Horizon?

The snow had stopped falling. Felix looked around again. There was no sign of the village behind him.

Not good.

In fact, as Felix looked around, he became convinced that something was awry – There was clear blue sky all around. There was no evidence of the swallowing blackness that was the northern edge of the reaches, nor of the mountains that had been hidden moments ago behind the veil of snow to the west and south.

It had been just moments ago, had it not? How long had it been since the snow had faded? And how did he not notice?

The entire situation screamed of the supernatural. Felix resisted the urge to draw his sword, but instead stood still, watching vigilantly. For minutes, he saw nothing, he heard nothing.

_You have made a choice, I see,_ came the Lady's voice. _But have you forgotten what I told you?_

Felix fought the urge to turn away from her resonant voice.

"Bring… my heart," said Felix, feeling as though he had committed a grave sin in responding to her question.

_Do _not_ forget, Felix. But I have not called you here for something so small. I come with a warning, one that you should heed – beware the Dragon, beware the Eye, for they are tainted miracles, born of scorned fire and hardened earth. Too long has their angry power been trapped away, corrupting them from within. Beware, but do not avoid. Seek the Dragon to find what you have lost. Seek the Eye for the answers you desire. The Eye sees much of Fate, just as he did in the past. _

She paused, pulsating with the haunting white light that seemed to spring from an internal source. It was powerful and mesmerizing, holding Felix to the spot where he stood.

_Your test approaches, Felix,_ the Lady said. _You have dreamed of this moment before –_ _come. It is time. _

She reached out, still glowing cerulean beauty out of every inch of her skin, and gently took Felix's hand. She pulled him along snowdrift after snowdrift; there came a point when Felix noticed, with as much shock as he had earlier, that the snowstorm had resumed. Moments after, he saw the ominous silhouette of Mars Lighthouse through the wind and snow.

_You know what you must do,_ the Lady said.

She faded into the snow, just like in his dream. This time, however, no one yelled his name from the top of the aerie; he was alone.

Felix watched the Lady until the last trace of her had disappeared, and then shifted his gaze to the ancient steel construct, sizing it up. He walked confidently into the entrance, seeking answers to his questions, writing the end of his Aria.

From a distance, it would have appeared that the Lighthouse had, like the mouth of a dragon, swallowed Felix whole.

* * *

Sheba hated the snow, even watching it through a window. Growing up in Lalivero tended to put a damper on a person's enthusiasm for freezing cold precipitation, and this certainly rang true for Sheba. She was glad that she hadn't ever been to Imil, because it was supposedly almost as cold as Prox. Even the inn wasn't warm – it wasn't cold either, but it didn't feel as insulated as she thought it ought to. Even wrapped up in two blankets she still had to work to suppress the occasional shiver.

It had certainly been a strange walk into Prox. She had long since known of its existence, having heard the stories from Felix, Saturos, and Menardi, but the picture the two had painted did not dovetail with the true landscape. She had expected something that more closely resembled an arctic version of Kibombo.

"We live simply," Menardi said, "so that we may light the beacons as fast as possible."

_Right,_ thought Sheba. _The only thing 'simple' about this place is that they haven't discovered how to keep a house warm. Nothing else here is simple. _

Nothing else was simple; her mind fixed itself on the invisible but nearly tangible sense of despair that hung over their heads as they walked in. It hadn't gone away, either. The fireplace on the opposite wall had done some small part in holding it at bay, but Sheba felt that as soon as she set foot outside again, it would come back with a vengeance. Even with all nine of them, Sheba had felt like she was walking alone. She had seen Isaac and Jenna holding hands, and when she had, it nearly tore her apart.

Everyone was so desperate to have something, anything, to hold on to, to keep living for. Where was her "someone"? She didn't have a family back home, childhood friends, or a lover. She curled her knees up to her chest as she shivered, and this time it had nothing to do with the cold.

A little voice inside her head whispered, "You'll always be alone. You're different. You're strange, just like your powers."

Sheba blinked out a solitary tear. She wished, hoped, prayed that Felix would come and find her and give her some much-needed comfort, but he was still speaking with Puelle. Where was Piers?

She looked around, and the large mound of blue hair poking out from the sheets answered her question. Garet was asleep too, in the bed next to him.

That left… Ivan and Mia. Sheba was somewhat familiar with Ivan after the time they had spent trying to get Jenna and Isaac together, but not so much with Mia.

_Maybe I should get to know her better tonight,_ thought Sheba. _She might be able to help. She doesn't exactly have anyone here either… Maybe I could talk to her._

She looked downstairs, but there was no one else besides Jenna and Isaac, who had fallen asleep in each other's arms on the couch. Where was Mia? And for that matter, where was Ivan? Even the innkeeper slept in his chair. There was no one else upstairs…

She opened the door to the basement, and there she found one of her missing companions playing with a pair of nails, holding them up in the air with electricity that occasionally jumped off of his right hand. He didn't seem focused on it, though.

A moment later, he noticed Sheba, and dropped the nails onto the floor.

"Hi," he said.

He sounded just as bone-tired and weary as she felt.

"Weird trip in, huh?" she said as she stepped over next to him on the wall, as a way of starting conversation.

"You're telling me," he replied.

Sheba lapsed into silence, not really having anything else to say. What could she say? Ivan, remember that time a few days ago at Magma rock when we fought those monsters? Or how about just the other day when Isaac and Jenna found us out and everything blew up? Great times.

Right.

Ivan spoke up then.

"You seem out of sorts tonight, Sheba. You okay?"

There was a shocker. Since when had Ivan been sensitive?

"Yeah, I'm fine… Well, I mean…" she paused. "Who I am kidding? Yeah, Ivan, I'm all kinds of messed up in the head right now."

She sighed.

"I'm just… I don't even know what to think right now. We're so close to the end, but we've been falling apart ever since the storm hit. I expected to feel... different, now that we're here. I thought we would march in here and we would just… _know_ what we had to do, and then _do_ it. I didn't think we'd be lying and sneaking around each other. I definitely didn't think we'd be so incredibly _confused_."

Ivan bit the corner of his lip in thought.

"I know what you mean," he replied. "I think we're just tired is all. We get done at Magma Rock, and all of a sudden we hit that storm. We get out of the storm, and a day later we're off to the Lighthouse. It's a mess. We're all tired, but there's no one else who can do it besides us. At this point, we're counting the days until Prox falls off the map. And they're counting on us to save their lives? Yeah, I'm feeling that stress."

Ivan sighed too, and looked off into the unlit corner of the room.

"And then there's the whole thing where we might die trying," he finished.

"Yeah, that…" agreed Sheba. "I mean… can you really even talk about something like that? We've gotten into some tight spots before, and we've had some pretty serious injuries, but none of them have ever seemed so… ominous. I can't help but think that this 'great power' at the top is going to be the end of us."

She paused. Her heart seemed to beat against a tangled mess of rope, unable to decide if it wanted to be free or if it wanted to just collapse under its own weight.

"I don't want to die, Ivan."

No tears; just doubt and distaste.

"Neither do I," he said.

Another silence.

"I wish I knew what to say," Ivan said apologetically. "This doesn't make me feel any better about it either."

"Can I just… have a hug then?" Sheba asked.

"I can do that," he replied, with a matured version of his eternally present grin.

He wrapped Sheba up in as big of a hug as his small body could muster. Sheba was happy, for the moment, to be close to someone, to anyone. It made her feel somehow less alone. The hug said, "Yes, I feel it too – the weariness, the despair. Let me show you what mine is like, and then I'll see yours; then we can wash each other's hands off until there's nothing left."

Eventually Sheba's breathing, shallow as it had been, leveled out and grew deep. She felt... not truly better, but the immediate pain was numbed, and she felt confident that she could think.

"Anything else you want to get off your chest besides that stuff?" Ivan asked.

"Yeah, actually," Sheba replied, recalling the original reason she had come down to the basement. "Where's Mia?"

"She went upstairs a while ago," said Ivan. "Is she not there?"

"Nope…" Sheba muttered darkly. "There was no one else upstairs, and only Jenna and Isaac asleep on the couch on the middle floor. She's not here."

"Maybe she just went to find Felix? He's been gone for a while too."

"I thought about that, it just seems weird that she wouldn't ask someone else to come with her, especially you or Garet," she replied.

"Now that you mention it, that does seem weird. Do you want to go look for them? Maybe Puelle is telling them something important," he added.

"That's a good idea," said Sheba. "Let's get our gear."

Not ten minutes later, Sheba and Ivan were out the door of the inn. The snow still fell constantly, and the wind battered them from all sides. It was dark save a few torches placed intermittently throughout the town, and those were hard to see through the frozen gale.

Ivan leaned toward Sheba's ear, suggesting that they head to the northern edge of town to talk to the sentry. They made their way up the ridges until they were able to discern the light of a row of torches behind a human silhouette.

"Have you seen Felix?" Ivan yelled above the wind to the guard.

"Felix?" the Proxian replied as they got closer. "He should be back at the inn. He and Puelle talked hours ago."

_Not good,_ thought Sheba, and she didn't have to read his mind to know that Ivan was thinking the exact same thing.

Ivan thanked the guard, and began to glow with Psynergy. He looked around. His eyes grew wide. Sheba followed suit, using Reveal, and saw what Ivan had seen. It was a solitary set of footprints which went due west from the circle of vigilant guards. The footprints continued to a small gap in the city wall.

"Well," said Ivan, "what do we do now? They obviously went out of the city. Do we try to go and find them?"

Sheba reflected for a moment.

"If they're in trouble, we have to try and help. At least we won't be sneaking off – the guard will know that we're going to look for those two."

"Let's do it, then," said Ivan.

And with a quick explanation to the sentry, the two Jupiter Adepts grabbed a torch and stepped out into the wasteland to the north looking to chase after their absent companions.

* * *

**And that is it for this chapter! I most sincerely apologize for how long that took... You guys have no idea how many times I've fumbled with this godforsaken chapter. There was a point where I was getting maybe a sentence down every two weeks. It was that bad. **

**I think this chapter sucked, but I'm moving into so much more action now, so I feel like it will get better. This definitely isn't the best chapter I've ever written, but I think the next one will be much better. As usual, my dialogue feels weak, but I complain about that enough. The only other thing I would really appreciate everyone's input on is if there is too much change in tone from the previous chapter, and also if the tone changes too much inside the chapter itself. While I'm rather happy with the scenes involving Felix, Isaac, and Jenna, I'm concerned about the scenes with Ivan and Sheba. They don't seem to mesh well when they're depressed. Any thoughts?**

**:)**

**Feels good to be back. I'll be very thankful to any of my old reviewers who have managed to stick around this long and still feel like this story is worth reading. **

**I also need to take a moment to plug another Felix-Mia fic that goes by the name of "Catharsis", by the writer DropOfInk. It is completely different from mine, but I think it is an excellent take on the second half of TLA. This fic is also noteworthy in that it is the only other Softshipping fic with over 10K words, and the only other multichaptered fic with any hope of being finished! I know that many of you love Felix and Mia as a couple, so take some time to check this story out! Beware: therein lies much angst, quite unlike my (usually) fluffy romance.**

**Thanks again for stopping by, everybody!**


	15. Ties and Promises

**Golden Sun is owned by Nintendo and Camelot.**

**This prestigious list names all of the people who have been kind enough to leave their thoughts on this story. I thank each and every one of the following: Tsukasa Arioushi, Noel the mermaid, Tom-Ato13, man that forgot password, goldensun1126, Vidolfnir, DropOfInk, Rizaidym, GraysonPaladin, Wostvely, PinayAngelisaBEAST, DuchessOfDementia, valeshippingftw, LordOfRandomness, yuko1909, Hrvstmn31, Joe, nanotaz, Trauerbrandung, …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, allbluewitness, UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. As always, you are the inspiration, the motivation, and the impetus. Thank you also to all of my readers who prefer to be silent with their thoughts. **

**Warning: there are some rather intense themes and language in this chapter. If that sort of thing offends you, stay away. Also, be prepared for more rapid shifts in point of view than you're used to if you've been reading this story regularly. **

**Without further ado...**

Tundra

Chapter 15: Ties and Promises

Felix whipped his sword above his head, and with the effortless grace of a veteran, plunged it tip-first into the neck of the last of three flame-spitting lizards that had attacked him. Felix felt that there were enough monsters in the twisted maze of red steel to engage an army – it had barely been an hour since he had entered the construct, and already his armor had slight dents and nicks from attacks. That was not to mention the various fluids that had soaked his clothing, making it even colder than it already was.

Felix wiped the slightly orange grime from his arms, and worked his way ever deeper into the ancient building. The traps were cunning indeed – Felix had almost fallen victim to several of them, and he jumped to the side to avoid being crushed by an onslaught of flame from the giant dragon-head down the hall. He winced slightly as his hand came down on the sharp ice that lined the corridor, but he pulled himself back up, timing his sprint to the small alcove on his right. This close to the source of the flames, he felt his skin begin to grow hot every time the flames passed. He watched the oscillating head, calculating, calculating… One more flame burst. Then came the heat as a blast of elemental fire roared across the room. Wait for it to pass… There it was – an opening!

Eyes to the floor and sword sheathed, Felix sprinted to the other side of the room, jumping at the last second to avoid another barrage of fire. He knelt on the ground for a moment to catch his breath before moving on.

Where he was going, Felix did not know. Though the Lady had disappeared at the entrance to the Lighthouse, he felt her presence guiding him, albeit weakly. His astute sense of distance and direction told him that he was nearing the back side of the Lighthouse. What was it with this place? It was so frozen up that there was almost no way around – giant blocks of ice littered the floor in most rooms, as though some giant had gone through and cut enormous, icy chandeliers from the ceiling. Though he had yet to find a doorway that was blocked, it felt like someone had set off a bomb.

Felix retraced his footsteps mentally. He was below ground, that was for sure. Common sense told him that the right direction to go was up, but that didn't feel right. So, he continued to wind his way around the basement floors, going deeper and deeper. He fought monster after monster, and eventually found his way to the end of a long hallway, at the end of which he saw something that, even after all that he had seen in his travels, still made him wary: a pair of dragons encased in a giant block of cracked ice.

_Listen to my heart,_ thought Felix.

He began to glow blue as he used his Psynergy to grind the ice. He drew his sword and stepped back, preparing for war if need but, but as he readied himself, he felt a distinctly malevolent presence rip through the air with fury.

**_Dare you free the scorned, Earth-born?_**

A strong yet callous Voice echoed through the chamber. And it was indeed a Voice. Its presence was undeniable.

**_The Fire-born are fine where they rest. They have made grave mistakes_****.**

The Voice stopped. Felix's eyes scanned the room for a source.

**_You are foolish, Earth-born. Confess your sins to me._**

Everything went black in an instant.

* * *

Isaac and Jenna were awoken from slumber by a frantic knock at the door of the inn. Isaac jumped up to open it, surprised to see what seemed to be one of the village elders.

"Isaac?" asked the older man by way of hasty introduction.

"Y-Yes… And, um, you are?" he replied, confused.

"I am Puelle, leader of this village. Felix has disappeared. I was informed that he never returned to the inn. Is this true?"

The worry in the older man's face was evident.

"No, he didn't," Isaac said, "at least, not that I know of. Jenna and I fell asleep on the couch, and we never heard him come in,"

"This is not good," said Puelle, "Felix only spoke with me for a few minutes. That boy has always been rash… he must have gone to the Lighthouse alone. I can only assume that your friend – Mia, wasn't it? – followed him. Your friends, the Jupiter Adepts, they were awake, and noticed the two were missing. They went after them, and told the guards at the north gate. They left not fifteen minutes ago."

"We'll be ready in five," Isaac replied. Puelle nodded, and excused himself.

Isaac immediately went upstairs to rouse Garet and Piers.

Jenna, who had woken up during the course of the conversation, moved to get ready, wondering what her brother could possibly be thinking. He had promised that he wouldn't do anything else stupid. This wasn't like him. Something was wrong. And what was this nonsense about Felix being rash?

And, five minutes later, Isaac stood in front of Jenna, Garet, and Piers, running rapidly toward the Lighthouse. Puelle reminded them of the dire situation of Prox's people, asking them to remember to ignite the beacon at all costs. After assuring him that they would, they had taken off.

As they sprinted headlong into the winter night, guided only by a solitary torch, Isaac caught Jenna's eye. And Isaac resolved that he would never hurt her like Felix continued to hurt her. He promised himself that he would never cause the pain that he saw in Jenna's eyes.

And so the four of them ran, chasing their friends – as though it was the physical distance itself that strained the ties and threatened to collapse everything that they had worked toward.

* * *

When Felix awoke a moment later, he found himself in a peculiar place: Vale. He stood on the dock that jettisoned into the river beside his house. Or rather, he watched a much younger version of himself. It was several years ago. Young Felix sat with his back to a crate. A solitary tear appeared, which his younger self quickly wiped away.

Felix watched himself with intense distaste, remembering the event clearly. He had heard his mother and father fighting. He had asked them to stop. His father cursed at him, telling him to get out of the house, angrily suggesting that he ought never to have heard anything in the first place. So Felix had run outside, and hid behind the crates.

_I was a coward, _thought Felix.

**_Indeed you were, _**the Voice sneered, and everything faded again.

And Felix felt the shame, because his heart told him it was true.

His vision shifted again, and this time Felix watched from outside of his body as he listened to Jenna weeping, confessing to Isaac that she couldn't trust him, that she considered him a coward for not standing up to his parents. He watched with rage as Isaac held his little sister in his arms, comforting her, putting his heart on the line to tell her that he cared about her, something that Felix couldn't bring himself to do.

**_Your cowardice runs deep, Felix_****, **said the Voice.

Once more the scene shifted, this time to Prox. He sat with his family, eating dinner in the basement of the house in which they lived. Felix recognized that it had been almost a year since they had been taken from Vale. His parents had become much closer. They had stopped fighting, and though they still felt enormous guilt over leaving their daughter, they were happy together. Felix remembered this as one of his happiest moments in Prox: he had been glad, and selfishly so, that he had a family again, even if it was short one member.

**_Your sister, I promise, did not share your sentiments, Felix,_** said the Voice.

Guilt washed over him. For a moment, he wondered about Jenna, but then everything went black again.

* * *

Sheba cursed as she took yet another tumble into the deep snowdrifts. Ivan offered her his hand, which she took, and he pulled her back up without a word. They continued their hasty march through the blizzard toward the Lighthouse.

Sheba, as she marched, continued to feel a sinking sensation in her stomach. There was something very wrong with this entire situation. This was not supposed to happen; they were supposed to march into the Lighthouse as a group, and then fight their way to the top together. What in the world could Felix have been thinking? It wasn't as though anything good could come of this decision. At best, the others would catch up to him, and at worst…

Sheba refused to think about it, pushing it aside. She redoubled her pace, and Ivan followed suit, sparing the time for a glance that told her they shared the same thoughts.

She caught a glimpse of the adamantine tower through the relentless snow. She pushed her hair behind her head and continued to run, hoping that neither Mia nor Felix had done anything rash.

"Sheba, stop!" Ivan gasped a moment later. "Slow down. We're not going to be any help if we can't even move when we get there. We'll freeze to death if we keep sweating like this."

"I know, I know, I just… I have a really bad feeling, Ivan," she said, slowing to a more moderate jog.

"So do I," he agreed. "What in the world was Felix thinking, running off like that? And then Mia, going to look for him by herself? Dammit, this could not be going any worse."

They lapsed into silence again, and before too long arrived at the base of the Lighthouse.

"Are you ready?" Sheba asked.

"Let's do it," said Ivan.

And as they walked inside, the ground began to shake with tremendous intensity.

* * *

The next shift found Felix in the frozen wastelands of Prox, in the basement of the house in which he had slept during his pseudo-captivity. A fresh scab that spanned his right cheek glistened in the firelight, enunciated by the purple and green bruise that surrounded it. Though physical violence that often bordered on baseless abuse was typical from Satruos, this time had been different.

Saturos had demanded that Felix accompany him and Menardi to Vale, in order to steal the Elemental Stars. Felix had refused. He had been afraid to return, to chance at reopening the book of affection that he had closed with his sister and his friends so long ago. He had, quite vividly, told Saturos to go burn. Saturos had beaten him fiercely, and had instructed no one to feed him until he made up his mind. It hadn't been a day when Felix capitulated.

Felix watched as his younger self hobbled toward the door, knocked on it, and begged Saturos to change his mind. He promised to go, to betray his traditions, to steal the Stars. Saturos laughed as he looked down at Felix.

"Pathetic," Saturos spat. "We leave in two days. Be ready."

**_Cowards don't change, Felix, _**said the voice.

Again, his vision shifted, and Felix stood in the middle of camp with Saturos and Menardi some distance outside of Lalivero. Felix remembered this moment too, with much chagrin. Felix had gone into town earlier that day at Saturos's instructions, and in that process he had discovered Sheba's link to Faran. It was there at camp that Saturos announced that, after conferring with Menardi on the matter, that Sheba would be "accompanying them to the Lighthouse". Felix understood immediately, and objected.

"Are you questioning my decision, Felix?" Saturos said, a sadistic edge creeping into his voice, "We had this issue a few months ago, did we not? Have you already forgotten the consequences of that encounter?"

Jenna looked at him, questioning. Felix had never told her about that; he averted his eyes from both of them.

"No," he said.

"Good boy," replied Saturos, chuckling under his breath.

And so they stole Sheba away from her home in the dead of night. Felix watched the scene with shame as Saturos bound and gagged her, pulling her roughly over his shoulder. The guards discovered them, but Saturos dispatched them quickly and ruthlessly. They stole away into the night, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

Felix felt bile in his throat, and he wondered how Sheba could ever forgive him for all of the times he had failed her. Where was Sheba, anyway?

**_Coward,_** the Voice said. It merely laughed at Felix's pain and regret, and as the scene faded to black again, so did thoughts of Sheba.

A moment later Felix saw again, this time near Jupiter Lighthouse. He couldn't bring himself to confront Isaac, as powerful as his counterpart had grown. So he ran, ran to the top, instead of trying to discuss it with them. That had almost led to Mia's death, and Garet's. Felix felt his insides squirm with regret.

"_Mia… I'm supposed to be with Mia right now. Where is she?"_ thought Felix.

**_Coward, _**the Voice said again, as things began to fade.

* * *

Mia ventured deeper into the Lighthouse. She followed the trail of battlescars along the walls and the corpses of monsters that littered the floor deeper into the bowels of the Lighthouse. This was certainly Felix's work – clay and stone littered the ground, hallmarks of Felix's Venus Psynergy. She was glad that Felix had thinned the monsters out considerably before she entered. While combat was Felix's strong suit, it was not so much hers. She had only encountered a few stray creatures since entering.

Though she was alert as she walked, she couldn't help but let her thoughts wander to Felix – what was he doing here? She had recognized that far-off look in his eyes as he spoke to the villagers, but she never imagined that he would come here on his own. Then, as she stood alone outside the inn, she felt an overwhelming fear in her chest. In an instant, she thought of Felix, and all of a sudden, she _knew_ that she had to follow him. It hadn't been so much a choice as it had been a reflex.

She climbed down yet another staircase, and found herself staring down a long, foreboding hallway. She slowly made her way down the hallway, her footsteps agile, graceful, and alert. What she saw when she entered the room at the end of the hallway was something she never expected: three giant dragons, each standing higher than her. Their heads all snapped toward her as soon as she entered, and the largest one spit a powerful flame in her direction.

Her Psynergy flared up to shield her from the flames, and she drew her staff as the beasts attacked again. She let her Psynergy flow out of her every pore, healing wounds as she swung at the monsters. But they were phenomenally strong. She focused on the smallest ones first, knowing that it was probably the weakest. But even as she tried to put that strategy into effect, she felt that it was fruitless. Even when she hit both the largest and smallest dragons with a powerful spray of froth, they came at her without slowing for a second. She swung her staff –imbued with her power as it was – and connected with the smallest dragon. It roared, noticeably injured. But the other two still came at her relentlessly.

The big one slashed at her; the small one spit fire; she dodged a bite at her torso from the third. Her Psynergy was falling away too quickly, and she knew it. Even as she felled the small beast with a spray of diamond-tough ice, she felt her physical strength sapping. She pulled even more of her Psynergy from her pool to replenish her body – she was nearly empty. It was a race against time, and she was losing. It was only a matter of time.

And indeed, moments later, the large dragon caught her – a glancing blow to the side, one that knocked her off of her feet and sent her careening into the wall. She struggled to regain her balance, and as she stood up, she felt her side become wet. A quick glance down at her purpled robes confirmed that she was bleeding profusely. She tried to heal herself, but her Psynergy petered out. The smaller of the two remaining dragons drew in its breath and reared its head back.

In the instant before the flames ate through what remained of her Psynergy, Mia's only thought was that she wished she had found Felix, so that she wouldn't have to be alone for this.

She felt a brief moment of intense pain, and then nothing.

* * *

As things became black again for a moment, Felix thought he felt fire rip from his mouth. He heard a familiar voice scream in agony. Something immediately popped into his mind, but before it had time to register, the next scene materialized in front of him. All that remained of the thought was a faint hint of azure. That hint of azure became Mia, who stood in front of him on the deck of the ship, not more than a few days ago.

"_"I… I feel really honest, at the moment," he said to her, "I-I've never felt like I really understood someone, until this morning. I mean, really, truly understood. But I do, Mia. I… know how you feel. I know how it feels to shoulder a burden that no one else around you shares, to… feel like you could die tomorrow, and not know what to do with today. I do. And I promise you aren't alone, in any of it – the dreams, the hurt, the… the heartache. I feel it all too. If I have to carry it on my own, then so be it, but not you. Not you." _

And for a moment, Felix felt a surge of pride, for this was one promise he had not broken.

**_See the effects of your cowardice, Felix,_** said the Voice, and this time, instead of fading to black, Felix felt his mind's eye close, and he saw what he had just wrought.

He watched himself become a dragon, because his soul was impure and corrupt, because he lacked the strength to succeed – because he was a coward. He watched as Mia entered the room, unaware of the danger. He watched as the other two dragons breathed fire, as his teeth narrowly missed the left side of her torso, as the smaller dragon fell. Then, as Mia leaned helplessly against the wall, blood leaking from her side, Felix felt the flames spew from his mouth, enveloping her.

Instantly, his heart shattered with rage and disgust. With an almighty roar, Felix felt his Psynergy respond to the turmoil. The earth around him began to shake and heave, rattling the very foundations of the Lighthouse. Whatever sick spell had been cast on him was broken, and he felt his body become human again. As soon as it did, Felix whirled around, ready to wreak havoc on whatever he could touch. He immediately began to slash, with every ounce of rage he possessed, at the remaining dragon. His Psynergy flared up to protect him, and he did not much care that he had been scorched.

Felix howled with broken, feral wrath as he struck blow after grievous blow on the last dragon. It howled with pain, and Felix redoubled his brutish attack, bringing immense violence on the creature. The creature was almost pitiably weak beneath his overwhelming assault. With one consummate blow, Felix dove his sword straight through the dragon's chest cavity, shouting with malice as he did.

As the creature fell dead to the ground, Felix's chest heaved under the effort of breathing. His nostrils flared with every breath, his chest rising and dropping inches at a time. He looked at the beast, glad he had killed it. Then, as the bloodlust faded from his furious eyes, he let his sword fall to the ground, running over to Mia's motionless form. He stood there, ignorant of Karst and Agiato's bodies once again made human behind him.

Her right arm was severely burnt, and the wound on her chest had ceased bleeding. There was a large pool of blood on the ground where she lay.

Felix immediately poured his Psynergy into her, but try as he might, she could not be revived. She didn't even show signs of moving. It was almost as though she wasn't breathing.

**_It is the price of your cowardice, Felix. Consider her life your penance. _**

This time, the Voice was coming from in the room. Felix looked up, only to see a giant eye of stone, floating in the air. The Lady's words came back to him: _Beware the Dragon, beware the Eye._

**_Do not dare approach the aerie, Felix. You have fallen far enough from your duty. _**

And the Eye disappeared with its Voice. Felix stood still.

He heard Karst's voice behind him, telling him to take the Mars Star. Karst was trusting him with her last hope, because she was dying too. Why would she trust him? Could she not see that he had just destroyed something beyond any measure of precious that was entrusted to him? But Karst lay dying, and it was a terrible crime among the Proxians to dishonor a last request. Karst had always been good to him, so Felix took the Star.

Felix could not help but despair. He picked up Mia's lifeless form and began to carry her up the stairs. This promise to her that he had broken… The Eye was right. It was a sin. It was an incurable blemish upon his soul.

He stayed strong as he carried Mia's body up the stairs. He stayed strong as he continued to pump try to revive her. He stayed strong until, as he met Ivan and Sheba near the top of the first floor, he took a moment to look at her eyes, permanently closed, and then he lost his strength. He set Mia's body down, and fell to his knees.

Ivan began to shake with fear and shock.

"F-f-felix… W-what… Why is… Why is Mia not _moving_?" he asked. "S-she's gonna be okay, right? Right, Felix?"

Felix stared at Mia, unable to face him.

"I-Ivan…" Sheba said. "Ivan, I think… I think she's… she's…"

Felix continued to look at Mia, his expression blank. This couldn't be real. This had to be one of his nightmares. But yet, the cold feeling in his toes and the salty taste of the tears on his face told him that this was real. Mia was dead.

Felix fought back the urge to vomit. He had promised her that she wouldn't be alone, and not even days later, she had died, utterly alone, and by his hand, no less. The entire situation made him sick. Following his heart had killed the most beautiful, incredible person in his entire world. The rage welled up in his chest again. He ran outside, away from Ivan and Sheba, away from Mia's lifeless corpse, unable to contain himself.

* * *

Sheba watched as Felix ran from the room in grief. She didn't even think to follow him.

"I-Ivan," she repeated, as she fell into his shoulder, wracked with guilt herself. How had she spent so many months around this person and hardly gotten to know her at all? How could this girl have ever been less than her best friend?

Though she had seen many things on their travels, Sheba had never seen death. She could not bear to watch the scene before her, but neither could she bring herself to turn away. What good were the lives of nameless people in nameless villages on the other side of the world when the life of someone so integral in hers was ripped away? How could anything so uncertain be worth the price?

Even Ivan's tearful embrace did little to dispel the grotesque sense of loss.

* * *

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU WITCH?" Felix shouted across the snow. "YOU KILLED HER! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!"

The earth once again trembled uncontrollably beneath Felix's feet, responding as his Psynergy flashed in powerful anger.

The Lady's voice rose from the snow, assaulting Felix with its forceful arrival. Her voice this time was not gentle. It stung viciously at Felix's ears and body with the pain of betrayal.

_He has gone too far this time! Do not despair now, Felix. You _must _follow your heart. Only when you cease to do so will you have failed this test. Go now; you are not yet finished. You must make the climb._

And then her voice was gone again, just as quickly.

Tears dropped freely down Felix's face. He was so lost in his despair. How had this happened? Why had Mia followed him? This was supposed to be his test, not her tomb.

He shivered in the empty cold, and looked out toward the vast abyss to the north. Felix felt the urge to run into that blackness, to get lost in it forever like the snow that blew too far away from Prox. Maybe if he walked off into the dark, his failures would fade away forever. Maybe, if he walked into the end of all things, he could fulfill his promise to Mia. It seemed to him that the tales of Prox spoke the truth. Perhaps there were no heroes, only fate and the promise of death.

"Felix?" said a voice behind him. "Felix! We were so worried about you! Why did you come all the way up here by yourself? Where's Mia? And Sheba and Ivan?"

Jenna… And she said we. That meant Isaac and Garet too.

Felix turned around, and as soon as Isaac saw the crestfallen expression on Felix's face, he understood.

* * *

The blond adept knelt down by his fallen friend. Why now? After everything they had been through, all the journeys that had led them across seas, over mountains, and to the edge of Weyard itself – this was how their companionship was supposed to end? With a whimper that reeked of burnt flesh? Now, when his father was nearly back to him?

Isaac shook himself to make it untrue.

Still, Mia remained motionless. Isaac closed his eyes and exhaled.

Perhaps it was bound to happen on a journey as fraught with danger as theirs. Perhaps it was naive to think that a handful of young adults who could barely handle their own emotions could possibly triumph over the greatest ingenuity of the ancients and every force on Weyard, natural and otherwise, with all of their lives intact. Maybe their entire quest was futile.

But something deep inside Isaac screamed against that notion. In the great stories, there were heroes who triumphed over everything that the world threw at them, and those stories always had a happy ending. Back in Vale, heroes didn't die, and they finished their quest no matter the cost.

Isaac stood up and looked at his friends. Ivan and Sheba held each other tightly, neither able to look death in the face; Jenna stood frozen; Piers closed his eyes in prayer; Garet cried silently, shaking his head as he did so; Felix stood, unresponsive, wearing a mask of pain on his face that defied tears.

_I guess it's time to finish this._

He looked back down at Mia. A soft whisper escaped his lips.

"Goodbye, Mia."

He paused, gathering his resolve.

"Let's finish this, everybody. She's _not_ going to die for nothing. Now let's go."

They would all make it to the top, Isaac decided, and finish this. Later, when they had finished, there would be time to be broken.

* * *

**_You should not have come here._**

_You know I had no choice. Your actions are inexcusable._

**_I made it clear that we were not to interfere. You have failed in this. _**

_You would break them into pieces, not test them. Has it been so long since you were human? Have you forgotten what it is to be mortal, to face crossing the River Styx? Have you forgotten the sacrifices that were made for our sake? _

**_My choices are stone. _**

_That is your heart, my dearest. Do not lower yourself to fallacy. You have not been away for so long that you have forgotten our love. _

**_Love is a trick of mortal eyes._**

_Do not say such things. It was a gift of love that made us what we are. _

**_We are sentinels. Bastard incarnates. Nothing more, nothing less._**

_You have lost much of yourself. You have let your power become you. I warned you, but you did not heed it. You have faded. What mask do you hide yourself behind, coward?_

**_What are you doing?_**

_Confess, my love; what have you done with your heart? What have you done with mine?_

* * *

**I have very little in terms of commentary this chapter, save that I hope I did it justice. I've been trying to get to this point for a while. Let's see if we can't tie everything up in another chapter or two, shall we?**

**Sorry to anyone who was offended/surprised/had a heart attack because Mia died. If you didn't catch it building up to this, you weren't paying very close attention to the past four or five chapters, much like me in my calculus class.**

**If it seems like I stopped right in the middle, it's because I did. This thing was almost at 5K words, and I had to stop it before it got drastic. This was just the only decent stopping point I could find. **

**As usual, please berate my dialogue, especially where it seems forced or overdone. I need to know when it doesn't feel right, or when it's so cliche that you start choking, etc.**

**Also, if there is any lack of clarity as to who is feeling what, who is saying what, who is talking to whom, or when any event in this chapter is taking place in connection to the rest of the story, please let me know. I thought I did a good job making that clear, but I have a very biased point of view, because these are all my ideas, and I know when they happen. **

**Thank you again readers, and especially reviewers. You are the reason this story is being finished. That said, Tsukasa Arioushi has to follow through on that promise before I post the next chapter. **

**Until next time, my friends.**


	16. Aerie

**Golden Sun is owned by Nintendo and Camelot.**

**The most profuse and humble gratitude I can summon goes out to each person who took the time to review my story: Droory, CD, anon, JamesK716, Tsukasa Arioushi, Noel the mermaid, Tom-Ato13, man that forgot password, goldensun1126, Vidolfnir, DropOfInk, Rizaidym, GraysonPaladin, Wostvely, PinayAngelisaBEAST, DuchessOfDementia, valeshippingftw, LordOfRandomness, yuko1909, Hrvstmn31, Joe, nanotaz, Trauerbrandung, …, Felix (actually my name), ^_^ sweet, tranquil09, allbluewitness, UltaFlame, MartinIII, insoki, mediocre, AxelXIII, CyBeastSaber, The Fox Writer, Rocky0825, SpiritGuardian, AAA, Anonymous, Marahute Sol, Kd7sov, 17th warrior, riais, Grayjack72, bente-unerz36, Lofast, and Frutillas. There have been, by my count, forty-seven individual reviewers of the fifteen chapters thusfar, which is far more of a reach than I ever expected it to have. **

**My readers – reviewers and lurkers alike – thank you for your patronage and dedication to this story. As I have said many times, were it not for all of you, I would have ceased writing this story a long time ago. **

**I had to take some… creative license with this chapter. So don't be surprised if things don't match up in terms of gameplay with what's canon. I try very hard to write my stories so that they fit PERFECTLY with the canon, but as this story has developed… Well, I think it's worth it, and I hope you'll agree. Personally, I think it could lead into Dark Dawn, the way it happened, but I digress. **

**Before you read this chapter, I recommend a reread of the narrative, if you have the time. The previous chapters have undergone extensive revision in order to bring them in line with this one, and personally, I believe you will get more out of it if you do. But, as always, you are the readers, and it is entirely up to you. I promise it will still work if you don't, but I think you will enjoy it much more if you do. **

**And now, my friends, it is my great pleasure to present to you the final – yes, final – installment of Tundra. It's been a wonderful ride. **

**Without further ado:**

Tundra

Chapter 16: Aerie

Isaac's insistence that they continue shattered the wretched silence in the atrium of the Lighthouse, but for a long moment no one moved. At last, Piers took several steps forward and knelt down at Mia's side to continue his prayer. His lips made only the slightest movements as he did so, and it was not until the last word that anything was audible – it sounded, to Isaac, like Piers had said "…peace".

Garet followed suit, and then one by one they said their final goodbyes to Mia. Felix was last; he knelt for a long time, and did not close his eyes – they were filled with pain, regret, and disbelief. If it was at all possible, the lines on his face grew harder and his posture colder as he stood back up. Felix raised a slab of stone from the ground and picked up Mia's body with machine-like movements. He lifted it to the top of the block, crossing her hands at her waist. The other seven watched as he did this.

As Felix walked back to the rest of the group, every heavy, disgusted step he took announced that his spirit was utterly broken. Isaac noticed this, and when they climbed the stairs that led toward the aerie's teleportation circle, there was not even a thought of disagreement about Isaac's position at the front.

And so they began their journey to light the elemental fires. The onslaught of monsters granted some brief reprieve from the horror of Mia's death as the seven adepts lost themselves in combat, but they all moved more slowly than usual – with simultaneous heaviness and recklessness brought on by a moment so heart-shattering that the body had to help bear the load.

In between the thrusts of his sword and barrages of earth from his palms, Isaac fought against the urge to cease – and was it ever strong. After each blow, his hand pondered for a moment if it was worth lifting his blade again, when he could just give up now. Each time, he felt the smallest inkling of fear of death that forced him to action, but each time the hopelessness came nearer to overpowering his judgment, instinct, and resolve.

But Isaac knew that he had to be strong; he felt the weight of two worlds upon his shoulders. One was the entirety of Weyard, which for the most part was unaware of its plight, and the other was his own personal world – the people he loved and cared for. One of the threads securing it had snapped, and now it was a brutal struggle to maintain its shape before it collapsed without the support it needed. Every moment that he found himself about to give up, every time his heart slipped dangerously close to the abyss, he thought of his mother, of his friends, of Jenna, of the whole world that he had traveled and seen, and he found the strength to continue to fight.

And, like any true leader, Isaac did not see the eyes of his friends behind him draw from his seemingly irrepressible well of resolve. He merely soldiered on to the best of his ability, and his best inspired his companions to hold on to hope as a thousand interconnected battles for the fate of the world raged around them: some internal, some physical; some brash, some subtle; some only minutes old, others ancient.

* * *

**_Why do you attempt this? This confrontation of yours will only end in death. _**

_The only death I fear is that of our world. If I must do so in order to save it, I will release our souls by the power that bound them. _

**_You speak heresies. _**

_You act as though there is a choice. Do you not remember the seven of us? Anything less would render the sacrifices of our friends useless._

**_Sacrifice…? No. This stems from your failing. Your attachment to the earth-born has blinded you, woman. You turn your power against me to protect him. _**

_…_

**_Do you deny this?_**

_He is as you once were, and as you ought to be._

**_He does not see as I see, and he has not been made to destroy what I have destroyed. He is not strong enough to save this world if I was not. _**

_Ah… There it is. I have found your heart, love – it is buried beneath your foolish pride. He has passed all my tests, save the one he has not yet taken. He broke free of your gauntlet. Why did you sacrifice the last of my children to impose another test? _

**_Like your son, Felix is not worthy. He is stained by sins of cowardice. I will not show you mercy if you persist in this attack; I will protect what I have sworn to protect, from either Felix or your son. _**

_For you to call a man a coward… mercy was never your strength, my love. I am sorry for the pain I must put you through, but you have forgotten the lessons of your past and replaced them with heartless dogma. I will not see the one I love so corrupted. _

**_What nonsense do you speak? You cannot stand your ground against my power, and you… _**

_If it must be so, then like a stone on the river bed, I swear that I will wear you down to dust! Let the river of my love that you have denied and forgotten quench the angry flames that scald your heart – if I can, I will save you from yourself. I know the pain you were forced to bear, but he does not have to share in your suffering to be worthy. _

**_You cling to such foolish, mortal notions. Put them behind you and accept what you have become. _**

_Come, my love. I would dance with you one last time, across all the oceans and rivers and lakes, from the rain on the tallest mountains to the lowest depths of the earth. I will not abandon love here at the end of all things, even if you have already forsaken me._

* * *

Three creatures closed in on Garet near the trigger for the first of the four elemental fires – two from his left and another from his right.

Underhand swing of a sword, block behind with shield; brace for contact… There, now psynergy! Fire-fire-fire-fire, focus-focus-focus – too long, stop! Where's the other one? There! Lunge, spin, slash, got him. Now behind you again, focus-focus-focus now fire, explode! Good, two down. One more, one more where? There! Faster, dammit, go! Now wait, stutter-step, it's gonna jump… Go! Now get the head off of it before it gets back up, faster dammit! Shit! No-no-no-no-no don't end up like Mia, don't end up like Mia… Mia… No… Mia, shit! Faster! Faster, stop thinking about it! Don't think about her, don't lose focus! There, five more! Get them all in a line, focus-focus-focus, hold it in, hold it in and shoot the fire! Missed one, shit. Need to aim better. Faster, faster, faster. Stay under control. Faster, faster, faster. Get it right, no mistakes, and one stroke, two strokes, three strokes, too far forward! Back up, back up, get back with everybody. Don't let Isaac outdo you. Come on, you can do better. Focus on Isaac. He's good. Kicking your ass. Don't let him be better than you. Faster. Hit harder. You've got longer reach, so use it. Where is everybody? Jenna-Felix-Ivan-Sheba to the left, Isaac right in front of you, Piers has the back, gotta watch out for Mia make sure nothing gets close to her SHIT you idiot stop it, stop crying, stop it! Fuck, gotta focus on Isaac, don't let him be better than you, move faster, don't let anyone else down, don't let anyone else down…

* * *

_Weyard's rivers began to churn, and the earthen banks grew wet. Rain began to fall. The ocean currents began to move faster, with more purpose. _

**_The earth rumbled quietly all across the continents. Fault lines under pressure climbed steadily to their critical points. Fissures appeared in strange places. The deserts grew hot and sandstorms brewed. _**

_Trees along the riverbeds of Weyard that had long been stable suddenly found themselves subject to unusually strong currents that ran through the rivers. Their roots, long planted firmly in the soil, began to lose hold. _

**_Still, trees that seemed as though they should have fallen stayed up; old trees that had floated down the rivers aimlessly seemed to find themselves bunched, trapping and damming the currents. Yet still, the rivers did not flood. _**

_All along the coastlines, waves crashed more heavily against the shore than any had in recent memory. It was an unnatural phenomenon, to have such strong waves in the bays without a single sign of a storm on the ocean. In fact, away from the coast, the waters on the surface were calm. _

**_Loud echoes of snapping within the cliffs of Angara scared the local ships out of the bays, but unlike most often when those sounds were heard, the cliffs did not collapse. Sometimes they would shift noticeably, but still they did not fall into the ocean. _**

_Inside the Lighthouse, water seemed more likely to turn to volatile steam near the dragonflames, more likely to freeze in the cracks between the metal, more likely to worm its way through the crevices that had long been left alone. The subtle equilibrium that was the Lighthouse was disturbed, and a million small battles of the elements took place even as the seven young adepts waged their own with the monsters._

**_Still, the steel of the Lighthouse neither budged nor weakened. The mountains did not lose their sides to the rain. The rivers did not halt. Vapor did not disappear into the sky. The monsters did not slow. The adepts did not stop their climb._**

The battles raged on.

* * *

Jenna forced herself to concentrate on disarming the trap in front of her. As soon as everyone else was safely past the barrier of flames, she let go of her psynergy and leapt past the wall just as the flames reignited. She stopped to catch her breath for a moment, but as she did so felt the memory of Mia's lifeless body overwhelm her with grief. Mia was the most pure, most beautiful person Jenna had ever laid eyes on – it was not fair that she had been the one to fall. It simply was not.

Jenna felt all at once a surge of equal parts disgust, shame, anger, empathy, and sorrow for her brother. She knew that he was in turmoil – Mia had put her life in his hands, and the trust had been misplaced. That made her question everything – after all, her trust in Felix was the cornerstone of her confidence in them as a group. Who could ever say what it meant that Felix had truly failed?

Even now, it seemed, her brother had not changed after everything that they had all been through. He could not keep his promises, and was a coward when it truly mattered. It broke Jenna's heart to think it, but she thought it all the same. She did not know if it was true or not, but there was nothing she could think to pull her mind out of the loop of despair into which she had fallen.

Felix was right behind her, she knew. As more monsters bore down on them, she chanced a glance at her brother – it was a strange thing, to see his flawless physique and powerful frame acting on instinct in the middle of a battle, and yet to know exactly how broken he was. It weakened her to see him so beaten, so without purpose; she looked away.

It seemed like her family had failed her. Her parents were gone forever, and her brother did not seem able to finish what they had set out to do. It shook her to her core, breaking down her increasingly fragile confidence. Even as she fought against the deadly monsters, she did not know if she would ever see anything else but the amaranthine tower that wrapped around them like a cage. And for a moment, she didn't care. She slowed the pace of her sword, almost inviting death to come and find her.

Then, out of her blind spot came Isaac, throwing himself in front of her without a thought, fighting off the fiendish lizards and flame-spewing birds that had made their homes in the tower. He took several blows, and fought on with a courage that she almost could not comprehend. He did not even glance her way. He was simply… fighting. Not for her, not in anger or in rage, but fighting nonetheless – he moved with purpose.

She caught a glimpse of his bright blue eyes as he whirled around to strike a monster behind him, and she felt a small spark of something that felt like tenderness. He did not seem to be looking at her, but all the same it gave her cause to remember that he was there, for now and for as long as they believed in each other. They would have each other's friendship, company, and trust. They would be there for each other in all things. Even though she had never asked him for such incredible devotion, he still had never failed her, and most incredibly, he believed in her.

_And that_, Jenna thought, _might be just enough to finish this. It isn't much, but it's enough_.

* * *

_It is difficult to say when the tide of the cosmic battle between earth and water began to shift; perhaps it was the tide itself that finally gained an edge on the shoreline, or maybe a lone tree that could bear the anger of the river it bordered no longer. Whatever the case, it was evident that a breaking point had been reached._

**_In a slow cascade all across Weyard, earth's vengeful arms lost their fire. The same stalwart trees that had hung from the edges of banks fell victim to the currents. The edges of cliffs finally gave way and sunk into the ocean. Clouds came over the desert; sandstorms slowed and abated. _**

_The eddies of the rivers laughed in triumph; the ice in the north seemed to become as hard as diamonds. One mountain in Angara felt the effects of a mudslide, and then so did another one across the continent. A rainstorm finally pushed a river over the floodline, and the greenery beneath it was drowned. _

**_It seemed that everything everywhere was wet or eroding or freezing. Sweat came freely; dirt seemed to fall off the hands of farmers. And, in a strange place untouched by time, a shell made of the essence of earth began to wear away – for a brief moment, the heart of stone was unveiled. For a brief moment, the heart of stone was vulnerable._**

_And still the battle continued in the Lighthouse: water against earth, the Angel against the Eye, and the adepts against their own despair._

* * *

Ivan felt the bile work its way up into his mouth again, and for the umpteenth time choked it back down. He couldn't stop thinking about Mia. It was the only thing on his mind – what else could possibly be on his mind? He had no way of making her disappear – his mind was always in too many places at once, and he could no more convince his mind to look away from Mia than he could stop breathing. He felt the dark sense of loneliness and despair threaten to overwhelm him, and he reached out with all of his might for something – for anything – to hold on to.

Ivan's psynergy skirted the edge of Sheba's consciousness. He hoped that she felt the need to be anything but alone; if she did, then because they were adepts they could speak without words. All they needed was proximity and familiarity, and they could speak in sequences of images, sensations, and concepts. Between thunderbolts, he touched her mind lightly on the shoulder, almost as if saying, "Can I sit here with you?"

Her mind acknowledged the advance, after a burst of focus that made itself manifest in the form of a great whirlwind had dissipated, and their thoughts sat down together.

Ivan's mind thought of a concept: Mia. non-reality; impossible; why?

Sheba's said at the same time: wish-I-had-known-when/her, regret, who-was-she?

Sheba had no reply for his thought, but Ivan said: in-my-room-after-the-storm telling-jokes, moment-on-the-shipdeck-she-liked-Felix, and also oops-my-bad, followed by a flash of Hama-Mia-Hama-Mia smiling, they-are-gentle-big-sister-faces.

Sheba: soothing, this-helps, more.

Ivan: Mia-with-terribleMONSTER,FOCUS,LIGHTNING-bedhead-every-day, seeming-innocent, first-time-I-met-her.

Sheba: first-time-was-JupiterFIRE,DODGE-she-almost-died-there, finding-her-on-the-ice.

Ivan: already-miss-her, she-was-alone-at-the-end.

Sheba: embrace-you, she-had-Felix

And so they allowed the images – some sad, most happy, and all familiar and comforting – to float back and forth between each other. It wasn't much, but it was something to hold on to, something tangible, and truth be told, it was almost as though she wasn't gone as long as they were able to think of her happily.

That connection, that shared voice, kept the two of them bound to one another. There was a reason to keep fighting – sustaining this memorial of Mia, this pageant to her life that was floating between their two minds, kept them tied to each other, and tied to the battle in front of them. It was a single, tenuous thread, and its lifespan was dangerously finite, but the happy memories of Mia grew stronger and they were able to peer outside of the small world that they had created. They saw that Isaac, who was in front of them, had not lost heart, and that Garet fought with a ferocity that they had never seen from him. It was, in a moment of what had been utter darkness, a light.

Ivan saw this, and shared an image-impression with Sheba: Mia, leaving home to save her people, Mia-always-helps-other-people, Mia-is-our-reason-to-fight-even-harder, this-is-for-her, I-want-to-make-her-a-hero-forever.

Ivan only felt Sheba send one connected thought in return: I-feel-hope.

His instantaneous reply: we-are-the-exact-same-feeling.

As they approached second of the elemental flames, the effects of this exchange were immediately apparent to both Sheba and Ivan – but to each only from the perspective of the other.

Sheba saw, in that moment, Ivan's true self – sometimes teasing, always playful, and eternally positive – displayed in a manner she had never seen before. It was still him, but it was tempered by experience, by an understanding of some truth that can't be put into words – one that can be shown but not taught, explained but not felt without experience. It was so strange to see this from Ivan that it was not until much later she realized that what she saw was wisdom.

Ivan, for his part, began to see how Sheba's veneers had melted away in the tension and heartache of the last few days, and how much strength she had gained because of it. Their dubious connection through her games of matchmaker had fallen down and given way to a relationship with the strength to sustain them both in a time when all their hope seemed lost – it had become something real, almost to the point of tangibility, which was a first for any relationship in Ivan's life. It was a serene and soothing thing in the midst of so much disaster – much like inside the eye of a storm, inside their friendship, Ivan was able to find the strength to endure.

And as they lit the fire of earth, the two Jupiter adepts began to believe.

* * *

_Water had no shell around its heart – water carried its heart with it, in whatever shape it happened to be. It was unafraid to touch, to be touched. It was sensitive, yet flexible. _

**_Earth kept its heart hidden, encased. When the first current of water, fierce and chilling, brushed across its heart, something awoke in the earth that was not often stirred. The retribution for earth's unhinging was instant and terrible. Weyard's very soul shook as the earth did. What many later remembered as a precursor to the ignition of the Golden Sun was anything but: a low and heavy rumble as the earth let loose its fury. _**

_Mud slowed, baked into clay in an instant. Vines and grass and trees grew thirsty. Rivers grew heavy with silt. Great cliffs that had begun to fall laughed as they blocked harbors; rockslides from mountains pulverized streams _

**_On and on earth and water fought against one another, engaged in a massive and perilous dance throughout the world, across the ether, and in the very hearts of the adepts who approached the summit._**

* * *

Piers took a brief moment to pray as the group lit the final elemental fire.

"Mother… If you can hear me, there is someone who is coming to join you. I might be joining you soon, but… She has fought too many battles for her youth, and she deserves better than what this place can give her. Please… welcome her as you would welcome me. Help her find peace that she could not find here."

* * *

**_You are beaten, woman. Submit. _**

_Never, my love. _

**_You have failed. The boy has ceased to believe. He is not strong enough. _**

_You would see him fail no matter the cost, you arrogant man. He has strength more than fitting for the task._

**_His spirit seeps away even as we speak. He is a coward._**

_He loves. The greatest cowardice is in failing to love, and you have forgotten this. Even if I must die for it, I will give you cause to remember._

* * *

Felix's body moved because habit commanded it. He protected, dodged, attacked, and ran because his muscles and limbs knew instinctively what to do. Twice the traps had almost killed him, because he was not focused. And how could he? All that his mind could remember was the montage of his most terrible failings that led up to Mia's death. He had slain her with fire, fire that was the result of a twisted spell that fed off of his sins and inadequacies.

All he could feel was guilt. Mia was… everything that he was not. She was pure. She was supposed to be happy, and he was supposed to give her that happiness. She wasn't supposed to be alone when she left the world – she deserved to have every heart that she had ever touched and every life she had ever changed for the better present to send her off when she finally passed away after years and years of vibrant life. It shouldn't have been her. It should have been him who died alone in the depths of a hateful prison of ice. He deserved that fate. Not her.

He was in the rear of the group, solely because he could not bear to have the eyes of his friends upon him. He couldn't bear the burden of their trust, having so sorely let them down. He couldn't even trust himself anymore. There was no way he could possibly lead the group to the aerie. All he could think was that the group was one member short, that the world's most graceful woman now lay dead at the bottom of the lighthouse, and that the responsibility was entirely his. Even though Garet fought fiercely, even though Isaac's example urged them to press on, Felix could not bring himself to have hope.

He had heard the term "heartbroken" before, but he never truly believed that it was a physical thing until now – every beat of his heart brought a fresh surge of pain to his whole body, reminding him of his failure to protect Mia. Every memory, every moment in her presence, every touch they had shared… All of it stung at Felix like a thousand angry wasps. The frozen air as they ascended to the top of the elevator made the pain even more acute.

Why was this his breaking point? Saturos's abusive treatment in Prox did not crush his spirit; he had broken every tenant of Valean creed in helping to steal the elemental stars and light the Lighthouses with little remorse; he had let his sister believe him to be dead for years and had tried to avoid letting her know otherwise. He had deceived, betrayed, groveled, and slain his way to the top of this Lighthouse. Now, he found himself without strength. Without Mia, the whole endeavor seemed to be without reason.

He had failed her.

He had broken a promise that he had not made until he truly believed that he would keep it to his dying breath. It was not a choice that Felix had made lightly. He would rather face every danger he had ever seen a hundred times over than to break a promise as sacred as the one he had made. Perhaps it was his destiny to fall short – here in the frozen wastelands of Prox, destiny held firm sway over everyone.

Atop the Lighthouse, for miles to the south, there was nothing but snow and the occasional mountaintop. Prox was virtually invisible. To the north and west and east, there was utter nothingness. The infinite blackness ate the snow that fell into it; it bit away at the ground at its edge, slowly marching toward Prox. It was the harshest and bleakest place that Felix had ever seen in his life, perhaps in all of Weyard. It was Abyss, and on the day of his greatest failure, Felix truly felt like he belonged.

As they approached the center of the aerie, Felix, somewhere in the midst of his dark thoughts, realized that their lives might be over in moments, and that their actions might cause the end of the world – but he did not care. In fact, it seemed to him like the world was already over, that he had already lost. What was the survival of countless people across the Weyard worth if it came at the cost of Mia's life? There was nothing Felix could imagine worth such a high price.

"Felix," said Isaac, interrupting his thoughts, "do you have the Mars Star?"

Felix blinked – it was time. Wordlessly, he pulled the small mythril bag out of his pack and handed it over to Isaac.

The blond adept took it from Felix, and walked a couple of steps toward the center before turning back around to face the group. Felix, with nothing else required of him, let his thoughts once again drift back to Mia's lifeless body at the base.

"If this... doesn't work, everyone…" said Isaac, "I just want to say… I-I don't…"

Isaac's voice faltered, and a small tear slid out of his right eye. He took a deep breath to gather himself.

"If this is the end, I'm glad I'm here with… with my friends, a-all of you. With the people I love."

**Love**.

That word echoed in Felix's heart and mind like the loudest of bells. He had never said it; he had been too afraid.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," agreed Piers, smiling serenely; Sheba nodded in agreement.

_Bring your heart with you when you climb the Lighthouse, _said Felix's memory.

This was no fairy tale, Felix's mind whispered, berating him – but that _word_ by itself set his heart on fire. Perhaps there was no such thing as a truly happy ending, but if Felix knew anything, it was that something like this could not be ignored.

There was silence for a moment, before Isaac spoke.

"Anyone else have anything to say?" he asked.

Maybe, thought Felix, there was no such thing as a happy ending, but there would never be a better time than now to try to shape his destiny, to make things right, to make an ending. It would be an imperfect one, surely, but it would be his own.

"Everyone…" Felix began.

His friends looked over to him, shocked to hear him speak.

"I'm sorry for… everything. For everything I haven't been able to do. Sheba, for leaving; Isaac, for my blindness; and Jenna, for my cowardice, I'm sorry. And Mia…"

He turned to the south, looking away from the abyss and his companions, and toward the whole of Weyard that he had set out to save, in all of its twilight beauty behind a curtain of snow. His friends looked on, waiting for whatever else he had to say. Felix stared into the distance, struggling to find a way to voice the simple thought that burned inside his chest – that he would rather be with her, wherever she was, than anywhere else in the world.

"Felix…" Isaac said carefully, hefting the Mars Star, "… it's time."

The dark-haired adept turned his head around slightly and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Mia…" he whispered to the air, "if you can hear me… I'm sorry I never said it. I love you."

As the words left his lips, a beam of blue-white light began to hum on the west side of the aerie.

* * *

_Did you hear that, my love?_

**_… He has failed. He is too late. _**

_No. He has found the hope he lost. _

**_He is tainted. _**

_He is whole. _

**_I will not allow him to light the beacon. _**

_So now it is time for us to interfere? Very well, my love. Let our dance continue._

* * *

Felix halted his movement toward the center of the aerie as the beam of white light grew searingly bright, forcing him to shield his face with his hand. Then with a crash that shook the aerie, the Lady appeared.

_Felix,_ she said, _you must light the beacon now, before…_

**_Betrayers, you have arrived._**

The Wise One's voice echoed in the minds of the eight adepts, though it emanated from where he had materialized, just to the left of the Lady. Their eyes moved wildly back and forth between the two godlike creatures that had appeared before them.

**_Isaac and Garet, I am disappointed. You have forgotten your duty._**

"And you were just going to let the world fade into nothing?" countered Isaac. "We have no choice. Prox will be gone in days."

**_The punishment for their sins was warranted. _**

"That's not…" Isaac started.

_Enough,_ interrupted the Lady. _You cannot interfere. You know this._

**_I will not interfere… but, what if some miracle were to occur, one that would prevent them from lighting the Lighthouse?_**

The Wise One began to pulse with Psynergy.

**_If you are stronger than a miracle, then perhaps you have a chance, despite your sins. _**

And with a crack of elemental thunder, a massive three-headed dragon appeared in front of them. It was at least thirty feet tall, and roared as though it were in immense pain. Its heads began to move, and the monster edged slowly toward the Adepts.

At once, Felix knew what the dragon truly was, what the Wise One had wrought.

"NO!" he screamed, and he stepped out in front of the rest of his friends.

The Wise One shifted his large stone eye toward Felix, and the dragon's motion toward the party ceased.

"Take me instead," said Felix. "Please."

The Wise One paused, as though considering.

**_… You will not suffice._**

"They don't deserve this!" Felix yelled. "I made the choices, and I made the mistakes. I betrayed Vale, I helped light all the beacons of my own free will, not them. They were prisoners! I'm the one you want. I'll go through it all again. Let the rest of them fight me instead."

Felix held his gaze on the Wise One, unblinking and unfaltering, and continued.

"I know I'll die this time. I know you'll make me watch it all again, that I'll have to see myself kill Mia, but I can be with her when it's over. I'd rather die than let them kill their parents, you sadist."

Behind him, Jenna's grip on her sword faltered as realization dawned; Garet grew pale. Isaac, however, remained steadfast and calm, as though he had already known both things.

**_You will not suffice, Felix,_** the Wise One echoed. **_It is high time for the sinners before me to repent. Perhaps having you slay the Water-born was not severe enough a punishment. _**

"You monster," Felix spat, as he settled into a fighting stance. "Everyone, stay back! This battle is mine!"

Isaac gave a grim chuckle as he twirled his blade expertly and stepped up next to Felix.

"Nonsense, Felix," the blond said. "I'm right here with you. You've sacrificed so much; it's about time someone else did their share. If my father is the price I have to pay to help bring everyone else home alive… so be it."

"He's right, Felix," said Jenna as she too stepped forward. "You take care of us; you always take care of us. It's our turn."

"Besides," Sheba jumped in, "you promised you wouldn't leave us again. You didn't forget about that, did you?"

"Your offer is noble, Felix," Piers said with finality, "but none of us made this climb to watch you throw your life away."

Felix's face remained stoic, but a glint of hope appeared behind his eyes for the first time since they had entered Prox.

"This is for Mia," said Ivan, as his fingertips began to hum with electricity.

"For Mia," Garet agreed.

And in the background, the Lady began to glow a soft, blue-white hue.

* * *

After what seemed like several days, Mia opened her eyes. She found herself standing on a large, flat stretch of ice and snow. There was nothing but the snow and a thin blue mist in any direction, as far as her eyes could see, except for directly in front of her – there were two small stumps of pine trees, one of which was already occupied by a figure facing away from her.

"I've been waiting for you, Mia."

It was a woman's voice, and soft like a well-worn blanket.

"Who… who are you?" the Imilian girl asked.

"You don't know me," the woman admitted as she turned around, "but I've been watching you closely. You've been traveling with my little boy."

The woman did not look very old – in fact, she did not look much older than Mia herself. However, the ornate, flowing robes she wore, which were blue enough to match the woman's hair, gave away her identity immediately.

"You're Piers's mother?" Mia asked.

"Yes, dear, yes I am," the woman replied, "but you may call me Coriela."

"But if you're Piers's mother, then…" Mia started.

"Yes," Coriela said consolingly, "You have passed on."

Mia didn't know what to say, so she said nothing The fact that she was dead was not easy to believe.

"I understand if you need a minute to think, dear," the Lemurian said. "It's not an easy thing to come to terms with. I was in your shoes not too long ago, after all. Piers did ask that I welcome you as I would welcome him, though, so I came to find you as soon as I could."

"You… came to find me?" Mia questioned. "How did you…"

"He prayed for you, my dear," she replied, as though it were obvious, "and asked me to take care of you. So, here I am. Now, I'm sure you have a hundred questions for me, and I will answer all that I can in due time, but first, you need to follow me. Come, this way."

Mia followed Coreila for nearly five minutes, until they came to a small pile of rocks that seemed purposefully placed – and indeed, when Mia looked over them, there was a small pool of still, crystal-clear water about two meters in diameter just beneath the level of the rocks at her waist.

"Look into the water, dear," insisted Coreila.

Mia obliged, and gazed at the glassy surface of the water, hoping to see her friends.

The water did not hold the image she expected – what appeared instead was the Lady.

_Hello, my daughter,_ the Lady's voice echoed.

"You…" Mia stuttered, "You're… Ply. Y-You're the…"

_Yes, _she replied,_ the mother of your people, one of the adepts responsible for sealing the elements, the guardian of Mercury Lighthouse, and the keeper of the Water of Life. I am all of these._

Mia's mind exploded with questions. "Why…"

_Hush, my child. Your questions are important, but there is little time. Your arrogant brother has sinned greatly. He intends to gather the powers of alchemy for himself. I must sacrifice myself to stop him, and to save Felix. _

"Felix! What's wrong with him?" Mia said, lurching closer to the water's surface. Thoughts of Alex left her mind at the mention of Felix's name.

_He is in danger. But he has given all for you, my daughter. His sacrifice has made mine possible. Out of love for you, for Felix, and for Alex, I will give of myself. _

Mia was silent, confused.

_I love you, my daughter. But watch now: I will show you what great miracles love can work._

Mia stared into the basin, with Coreila's hand on her shoulder, as the scene faded to the battle that took place on the Lighthouse aerie. The blue mist that surrounded them began to gather around Mia, and from there was absorbed by the pool itself.

* * *

_Felix,_ said the Lady as she turned to him, _you have done well. For your courage and your sacrifice, I thank you. You are truly a hero, and have done all that I could ask for my daughter. Now, I will do the same for you. _

The hue that the Lady radiated became a much sharper blue as she turned toward the Wise One.

_Your warped judgment has no place here! _she said.

**_They have sinned gravely – this will be their penance, and the balance will be protected. _**

_You pretend you are some god. Your right to judge is forfeit. I am sorry, my love – I tried to call you, but you would not listen. It is time for us to go. _

**_You would not dare!_**

_Oh, my love, but I would. Come – I will lay our weary souls to rest._

And so the battle began. The Wise One and the Lady rose into the air above the Lighthouse while the adepts battled on the ground, and compared to the battle above them, the eight companions were ants.

The Lady and the Eye fought ferociously. Some of the battle was visible – blue-white lines of the essence of water arced across the sky, slashing and crossing with similar bronze lines of the purest earth – but much of it was more subtle, hidden in the folds of time and in between the minds of the two demigods. Even though the battle between them was a display of unmatched mastery and control, such was their combined power that the energy from their blows often landed on the battle below them.

Still, the adepts below fought bravely, with Mia in the forefront of their minds. Fire followed blade followed storm into the maw of the three-headed beast; it seemed unstoppable, despite the best efforts of the seven warriors. For every blow that landed, the dragon was able to unleash a fearsome barrage of power upon them.

Though it seemed to take hours, Garet was finally able to saw off one of the dragon's great heads with a blast of concentrated flame – the decapitated head fell off to the side and turned to dust. However, this injury seemed to anger the dragon more than it did hurt it. If anything, its attacks grew stronger and more frequent, as did the sprays of power that came from the battle above.

At a point, Isaac took a blow to the side while unleashing his Psynergy; Piers stepped in to heal him. A moment later, Ivan set a ward as Jenna moved in to attack. Felix put his shield between Sheba and a blast of Psynergy from the beast. The walls between them that had risen up since Magma Rock came down like an avalanche. Although the beast's strength was immense, the hope that they had rekindled within themselves would not be outdone.

When Piers severed the second head with a graceful swordstroke, the dragon reacted with unforeseeable violence, unleashing a barrage of Psynergy so powerful that Piers fell instantly unconscious. The group reacted and moved to protect his body, but the jump in power was even greater than the one that had followed the first head's departure. Even though they adjusted to the increased ferocity, their Psynergy – already sapped – began to reach the breaking point.

Sheba was the next to fall as she took a dive to protect Ivan; her unconscious body fell next to Piers. Garet and Ivan in turn did their best to absorb the blows directed at their two friends while the others continued the attack, but the dragon's relentless attacks eventually forced them to the ground, depleted.

"Jenna!" shouted Felix, as he saw Isaac begin his attack from the corner of his eye.

"On it!" his sister replied, pouring her healing power into her friends on the ground.

As Isaac finished his attack, Felix readied his Psynergy and moved toward the beast. However, instead of focusing its attack on one of the Venus adepts, the dragon's head shot towards Jenna. Felix was already in the middle of releasing his own attack, and Isaac had not yet had time to move close enough to protect Jenna. Her Psynergy flared up to protect her from the dragon's teeth, and then she collapsed.

Isaac and Felix both began to sprint toward Jenna.

"GO!" the blond shouted to Felix, pointing madly at the dragon.

Felix hesitated for a moment…. His sister…

But Felix relinquished the thought, trusting Isaac, and began to gather his power.

The dragon took Isaac's bait, and pounded the blond with a devastating beam of Psynergy as Felix moved forward. Felix chanced a glance as he sprinted, and saw that Isaac – impressively – still stood after the first attack, though Felix knew that his companion could not endure another.

Felix forced his Psynergy to gather faster – they could not lose now.

The dragon let go of another beam of energy, and Felix knew that Isaac had fallen. Time slowed as Felix processed the surroundings.

Six steps from the dragon. The dragon's head turned away from his friends' downed figures and faced him. There! He had gathered too much energy to hold it any longer.

Four steps. The sky grew bright as the two demigods reached the climax of their battle, and the power of earth collided with the power of water head-on. Felix let go of his hold on his Psynergy.

Two steps. Felix unleashed the power he had gathered through every pore of his body, and let loose every ounce of everything he knew and believed and loved in one consummate blow, aimed at the dragon's throat. Simultaneously, the dragon bombarded Felix with Psynergy, and Felix forced himself to hang on to consciousness long enough to strike.

The sky turned brown; the Lady's heart let out a desperate cry as the Wise One began crack her defenses.

Felix brought his sword down into the dragon's neck with all his might; the dragon roared as it fell, and growing bright, shimmered away until all that was left were the shapes of three adults. Felix felt a stab of pain in his chest as he saw his parents.

_You would give all for my daughter, Felix,_ Felix heard the Lady's voice in his mind, as though she were in intense pain. _Now I will give all for you. When I give the word, throw the Star into the Lighthouse._

Then her voice vanished. Felix watched the two godlike figures above as a blue mist began to crawl onto the aerie.

**_My power has not been weakened by foolishness like yours, woman. You are at my mercy. _**

_And you are a fool, my love. Even in his victory, you do not acknowledge Felix's strength. He has succeeded where you failed!_

**_The Earth-born is weak. His own strength has not been tested–merely that of his friends. My hand holds no mercy for him; only judgment. _**

_And so you fall. _

**_Learn your place! I will do my duty – I will pass my judgment on him and on that power-hungry Water-born. _**

The Lighthouse shook as the Wise One unleashed a torrent of earthen energy at the Lady. She shrieked with what had to be pain; steam bellowed from her form, as though the water itself was trying to escape the Wise One's wrath: it was so brutal and violent that his fury was nearly palpable.

_Felix, now! _

He sprinted toward Isaac's downed figure, grabbed the bag from the inside of his companion's vest, and lunged toward the center. Not two steps later, he felt the most intense, excruciating pain of his life as the Wise One's aimed his pure energy at Felix – it began to peel his skin from his bones. He cried out in pain, fighting against the urge to fall unconscious, and took another step forward. All he had to do was drop the star into the Lighthouse, and he could be with Mia again. All he had to do was finish, and then he could die.

He took another step, and another, and one more. Each step was a harder battle than any he had fought to that point. His Psynergy ran on overdrive to protect him, but yet the Wise One's power still sliced off his skin, exposing what was beneath. He began to bleed, but he still inched forward.

The blue mist that had crept on to the lighthouse grew thicker, enveloping Felix. It was a soothing balm; the pain from the Wise One's attack slowed and then abated altogether. The Lady's voice grew loud in Felix's ear – it resonated like it had before, carrying a weight behind it that belied her fearsome power, though this time it sounded caustic, fraught with betrayal.

_You have scorned my love for long enough. Now it is my time to judge. _

Felix took a glance up at the Lady – her features had morphed. The blue mist had taken shape around her, forming ethereal claws and fangs so dense that Felix could scarcely differentiate them from her actual body.

_Now, Felix!_ she repeated.

Felix took the final step forward, dropping the Mars Star into the bottomless pit.

The Lady's body accelerated toward the Wise One's figure, claws extended. She stuck their sharp ends into him like a fork, and they flew beautifully, gracefully into the center of the Lighthouse.

_For love I die, and for love I sacrifice,_ she said as she sailed by._ For love I will work miracles. _

The blue mist disappeared.

The Wise One's palpable anger dissipated.

The Lighthouse erupted into a massive red pyre.

* * *

On the top of the Lighthouse, the beacon's light bathed the adepts with a soft, warm glow. Everyone slowly began to regain consciousness. Jenna grabbed her side in pain as she stood up, and it began to bleed. Behind her, Isaac, Ivan, and Sheba began to awaken.

"Mom… Dad…" Jenna whispered as she clutched her side, falling to her knees at her parents' bodies. "I was so close. We were almost together again."

Felix pulled his sister close to him.

"I'm here," he whispered to her.

Off to the side, Ivan helped Isaac up. The Venus adept looked down at his father.

"Dad, I did it. We saved the world. I don't know how I'm going to tell Mom that you didn't make it, but… I hope you're proud."

"I'm sure he would be, Isaac," Ivan said.

"I agree," said Piers, as he helped Garet up. "We've all fought bravely."

"_Ivan? Ivan, is that you?"_

Ivan spun around. He knew that voice.

"Hama?" he asked, bewildered.

"_Ivan, I was called to Jupiter Lighthouse in a dream. I must warn you… I see that you all have suffered greatly. Your friends' parents… Mia… Do not give up hope just yet."_

"_A woman cloaked in white called me here to the Lighthouse. She warned me to get everyone away from there, that it would be dangerous when the beacon was lit. She also asked that I give Isaac, Jenna, and Felix hope."_

"The Lady…." thought Felix.

_"They told us too," _said a young boy's voice. "_We've been telling people to leave for hours!"_

"You… You're Mia's pupil, from Imil!" exclaimed Isaac.

"_Yeah, that's us," _said a girl's voice_. "We have to go now too, because otherwise it will be too dangerous. That's what the Angel-Lady said."_

"So that Lady who was fighting with the Wise One was warning people in dreams?" Sheba asked.

"_It would appear so, yes. But you all must flee, now," _said Hama. "_The Lighthouses will not be safe."_

"What about our parents?" asked Jenna. "We can't just leave them here."

"_You must go!"_ said Hama, before her voice disappeared.

"Come on," shouted Isaac as he lifted his father's body over his shoulder. "To the elevator!"

Piers grabbed Felix and Jenna's father, while Garet carried their mother. Felix carried Jenna, whose side still bled openly.

As the elevator stopped at the top, the entire Lighthouse began to hum with energy. The group hurriedly jumped onto the elevator as the light behind them increased in intensity. Felix willed the elevator to move faster. They had to get clear of the Lighthouse before…

A loud, low noise accompanied a massive release of energy from the beacon as a red beam shot across the sky. It shook the foundations of the Lighthouse just as the elevator neared the bottom. The force of the blast knocked the adepts off to the elevator, onto the snow below, where they fell unconscious.

* * *

_We have warned everyone to stay clear of the Lighthouses, and of Mt. Aleph. The power of the Mars beacon will revive their parents. _

**_…._**

_We have one more task, my love._

**_…. Yes. _**

_You had not forgotten. I knew you would not betray his sacrifice. _

**_I will do my duty. _**

_After it is finished, we both shall die. _

**_… I will redeem myself. We both shall sacrifice –_** **_for something new, and bigger than ourselves._**

_That we will. Thank you, my great love._

* * *

Far away, on a mountaintop high above the village of Vale, a lone man climbed feverishly.

"No..." he said to himself, as the Golden Sun began to take shape. "I am so close!"

A blue mist began to form around him.

**_You prideful fool, _**a voice said, powerful and masculine. **_I will not permit a sinner such as you to access a power that you have not earned. _**

_This will be your undoing, my prodigal son,_ came a woman's voice.

Still the man pulled himself to the peak's plateau.

_You cannot resist us, _said the woman's voice as her angelic figure, along with a large eye of stone, appeared above the peak, levitating in the sky.

The man basked in the light of the Golden Sun at the peak's zenith.

"No one can stand against me now!" proclaimed Alex. "I am the most powerful adept in the world! I will call storms upon this pathetic village below me, and I strike you down, whoever you are."

He pointed his hand at the massive, one-eyed orb that had appeared in front of him. He began to glow blue.

The Wise One glanced to his right and left for a moment, unmoved by Alex's power. With massive force, he smote Alex to the ground, and then froze him in the air.

"My power is… limitless… Why?"

**_Not limitless,_** said the Wise One. **_Some of what you say is your power now rests in the hands of Isaac. His heart is pure. Your sins warrant punishment. _**

The earth began to shake.

**_Mt. Aleph will be swallowed into the earth. If you flee now, you can escape it. _**

"Flee?! I can't move!" Alex shouted desperately.

**_Then it will be very difficult for you to flee,_** the Wise One said. **_But, if you succeed, I will consider your penance paid._**

"NO!" Alex cried.

Mt. Aleph sank into the earth.

_Goodbye, my son. _

**…. **

_…_

**It is finished. **

_I have one more task. I will be with you shortly. _

**_… I see. I will wait for you a little longer then… my love._**

_..._

* * *

Felix was the first of the adepts to awaken. He recognized his surroundings – this was the same bed he had slept in while he had lived in Prox. The elderly grandma who took care of the house had even kept the same sheets on it for him, although by their pine-scented smell, they had been cleaned since he left.

Felix looked around him – no one else was in the room. He was dressed only in his underwear. He found his clothes folded neatly on a desk to his left, and saw his armor arranged on the other side of the room.

He immediately pulled on his clothes and hurried out the door of the basement even as he strapped on his knife-belt. On his way to the front door, however, he ran into Kraden.

"Felix!" the old scholar exclaimed. "I was just coming to check on you. I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Kraden, it's good to see you," Felix said warmly, "but where is everyone?"

"You're the first of our young champions to wake up! Everyone else is still sleeping. There weren't enough beds to keep you all in here, so we brought you to a few different places."

"How did you find us?" Felix asked.

"Puelle dragged me out of my potion-induced sleep to tell me that you had rashly gone to the Lighthouse without me!" Kraden accused. "So of course, I followed as fast as I could, with several of Puelle's men to guide me there. But as we came up on the Lighthouse, the beacon's light was ignited. We saw one of the elevators activate, and rushed that way. We were maybe halfway there when the beams from each of the four Lighthouses converged on Mt. Aleph."

"I'm sorry, my friend," apologized Felix, "I did not mean for anyone to follow me. I have… many stories for you."

"I have no doubt that I will find your answers satisfying, Felix," said Kraden, "but, that really isn't too important right now. I'm sure it can wait – I have good news and bad news."

"Mia…?" Felix asked.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," said Kraden. "We found all of you but Mia before we lost the light from the beacon. We still haven't found her."

Felix said nothing. His heart sank. He had hoped that someone would have found her body so that she could have a proper burial.

"But I'm sure we'll find her soon. Now, I have wonderful news! Come with me. I think you'll be excited to see this."

The scholar giggled like a schoolboy as he led Felix across the street and into the next house. Felix had long since learned to refrain from question the man when he had a surprise.

"The formation of the Golden Sun had some… interesting effects," said Kraden as he opened the door.

Felix looked at what was in front of him in shock. No less than seven of Prox's adepts sat, exhausted, around three bodies, all of whom breathed slowly and deeply: Isaac's father, and then Felix's father and mother.

Kraden looked on gleaming.

"The light of the beacon must have rekindled the spark of their life. It restored everyone who was exposed to it – I'm not even ill anymore! Such powerful alchemy… It's like a miracle."

It took Felix a moment to realize the full implications of what Kraden had just said. Ideas and images slowly connected in Felix's mind. As soon as they did, Felix bounded out the door.

"FELIX!" shouted Kraden. "Where are you going?"

But Felix was already gone, heading north toward the Lighthouse. He sprinted as fast as his powerful legs could carry him. He could scarcely believe what he had seen – his parents were alive. What the Lady had said about working miracles… He could scarcely dare to hope.

At a near sprint, he arrived at the base of the Lighthouse fifteen minutes later. It seemed less foreboding, as though the light of the beacon had soothed the anger and pain that was housed in the foundations. Though he had sprinted there, he entered the Lighthouse slowly, cautiously – he was too nervous that he might be wrong. The blinding morning sun reflecting off of the snow gave way to the torches that lit the central chamber. There in the center was the stone slab that Felix had raised to hold Mia the previous night.

And on top of it was her body, still silent.

Felix's heart fell. He had been foolish to hope. His parents had not been dead when the beacon was ignited. Mia had probably been dead for hours, and she was not even exposed to it. She had been buried in the Lighthouse.

He sighed deeply, and knelt down beside her corpse. It would be a long, lonely life without her in it; he wanted to take the time to say a proper goodbye.

He sat there for a long time, thinking of all that the two of them had been through together in so short a time. Traveling back and forth across the seas, gathering as much power as they could muster before they finally made their way to Prox, only to find the way blocked. They had journeyed to Magma Rock, fought their way to the bottom of that miserable dungeon amidst all of the fumes and lava. They had eaten, worked, and laughed together. They survived for days out on the tundra. He had found someone who truly completed him.

Now, she was gone. They had been so close… If not for his mistakes, Mia would have been alive at the end of it all, and they would be returning home triumphantly instead of in sadness. What more could he have done to save her?

_You have done all that I have asked and more, Felix._

The Lady's voice might as well have been a thunderclap in his ear – he stood up immediately, looking around for the source.

He found her angelic figure at the entrance to the Lighthouse; it was much less bright than when he had first seen her.

_You notice that I am fading, I see_, she said. _I am leaving soon. This world will be without those who have protected it for millennia. But love is a great power, Felix, greater even than Alchemy's strength. You have never forgotten this, and this is a credit to you, my young hero. _

Felix said nothing, and listened. She seemed serene, despite her statements.

_Your actions have proven you worthy twice over. I am sure you have many questions. I will give you the answers you seek. But I made you another promise. I promised to give all for you, as you did for my daughter. _

Felix's hands sat on his knees, gripping tightly. The Lady paused, looking him in the eye.

_Goodbye, Felix. Go to the aerie one last time, and all your questions will be answered. This I promise you. Leave your weapon here._

Though it wasn't answers he sought, Felix disarmed himself, leaving the small knife by Mia's altar, and made his way to the elevator nonetheless. He would see whatever he was meant to see, and then he would go home. Even if he never was able to find someone else whom he could understand like he did Mia, he would still have his family, and his friends. Maybe this would be some small closure.

The elevator rose to the top of the red colossus, and Felix scanned the environment for the source of whatever answers he was promised. As he moved closer to the beacon at the center of the aerie, his eyesight began to flash, and the same blue mist that had engulfed him during the battle appeared again.

He saw a vision of Alex climbing Mt. Aleph, and of the Wise One and the Lady stripping him of his powers. He saw, in a vision made of brilliant, contrasting colors, what the Lady had known all along: that the Lighthouse's beacon would revive their parents, and that their parents' transformation had been a test for Isaac, not for him. Then, he felt a lurch as he was warped back into a memory from ages past.

* * *

_Seven warriors stood at the base of the mountain that in the years to come would be known as Mt. Aleph. They were the seven most powerful adepts in the world, and hailed from the most respected families in the clans of great power all across the world. _

_Five of these warriors were men; two were women. _

_There was the Princess of the Anemos, who was called Sentinel, and the Wellspring, the Angel of the North, whose name was Ply. With her was her lover, Thrace, the proud Adept under the Mountain. The Star Mage was called Orion, and he was of Lemurian blood. Also there was the Dullahan, the Dark Warrior, blessed by the Night. Finally, there were the cousins: Valukar, who was known as the Crucible and the Desert Snake, and then Helios, who was the Sage of the Sun. _

_Ceaseless war had scarred the lands and left the world without hope. Alliances lost their strength, kings were murdered, and peace was but a distant memory. _

_The seven adepts, called together by the Sage of the Sun, traveled as a group, aiming to bring peace through mediation, and conflict only if necessary. Their renown spread far and wide, though with unintended consequences: desire to use the Seven as tools of war and conquest mitigated the desire for peace. An attack fronted by an infamous pirate king eventually forced the Sage's hand: the Seven had refused to fight for his country's army, and were subsequently ambushed. Dullahan had used his dark powers to curse him to the Forgotten Isle until the end of time. _

_It was this betrayal that led the Sage of the Sun to make a startling announcement: the powers of Alchemy would be sealed away, in order to prevent its use for war. Though many nations backed the Sage, it was apparent that not all agreed with his decision. The four nations that built the Lighthouses were constantly attacked by the nations that did not wish the power to be sealed away. It was only through the ingenuity and vigilance of the seven warriors that all the Lighthouses were able to be finished. Even the Anemos, who had long been supporters of a move toward peace – even going so far as to aid in building one of the Lighthouses – raised their city into the sky in retaliation to the seal, leaving behind a vile, smoking crater as their parting gift. _

_Thrace, the Mountain Adept, had offered his former home as the place that would house the powers of the elements. It was there that these seven adepts stood, preparing to place the final seal on the powers of Alchemy. _

_"My friends," said Helios, his face somber, "you have done so much. You have given your homes, your lives, to this cause. All have placed their hope in us. Now I, in turn, place my hope in you."_

_"What nonsense do you speak, Helios?" asked Thrace. "We have forced out all of our foes, defeated. The Lighthouses are completed, and no more will alchemy wreak havoc on the world. This is a time for celebration!"_

_"My friend," the Sage replied, "you are a powerful warrior, a brave ally, and above all a wise man. I am sure you know what I must do."_

_"The rest of the world has pledged to protect the seal! You need not do this!" _

_"Be still, my love!" Ply interrupted. _

_"No! I will not allow it! Let me go in your stead!"_

_"It cannot be, my friend. I must use all of my power to place this seal. You all must protect it, for the world is a fickle thing – those whom I love are the only ones I can trust, for only love can possibly outlast the ages."_

_No one said a word._

_"My brothers and sisters," the Sage continued, "I charge you with the keeping of the powers that we will seal here today. I will give up my life so that you all may live forever, with the strength to protect these powers until the end of time."_

_He paused. _

_"Valukar, my cousin: you will guard the power of fire. Bring it back to our homeland, and seal it away in the desert."_

_Valukar nodded once, understanding. _

_"Sentinel, I entrust to you the power of your people. Keep it safe."_

_"I will guard it until my last breath, my great friend," the princess replied._

_"Dullahan, I give you the sun's own power. Bring it deep into the earth, where neither sun nor moon will touch it."_

_"I will not fail, Helios," he replied. _

_"Ply and Orion," the Sage said, "you will guard the sources of the Waters of Life. Orion, you must take the power I give you deep into the sea."_

_"It will be done," said the wizened man from beneath his cowl. Already, he plotted to enact his King's final order: to save the waters of life for the Lemurian people. _

_"Ply, yours will be sealed within the Lighthouse. I know that your people depend on its power to survive, but the power must be locked away. I can only promise that your children will not lose the powers that come from the Well of Life."_

_"If it must be done, then let it be," the Lady replied. _

_"Thrace…" the Sage began. _

_"My friend, what would you ask of me?" the Venus adept said. _

_"You will remain in your mountain home. You have the gravest duty: you must guard the essence of the elements, the keys to igniting the Lighthouses, should some great disaster arise that we have not foreseen. You are the wisest friend I have, and because you are here can I leave this world with the faith that it will survive."_

_"I will protect them until the end of time," Thrace said solemnly. _

_"Then let us seal the elements away, for once and for all."_

_And so they began. For six days, they forced their power into the mountain, and the next morning, the Sage grew a golden aura. He announced to them that their work was finished and apotheosed, shimmering away into the midday sun with one final thought on his lips:_

_"Goodbye, my friends. I love you."_

_And then he was gone. The remaining six began to grow auras as well. _

_"What awesome power!" exclaimed Orion. _

_"What an incredible thing Helios has done," said Valukar as he hefted his scythe. _

_"Our children will tell these stories for generations," Thrace added, as he looked at his wife. "May the memory of Helios live on forever."_

_"We must never forget," said the Lady, as they began to disappear, "what great miracles that love can work."_

* * *

Felix awoke from the vision, his heart pulsating in response to the intensity of what he had just witnessed. The blue mist still surrounded his feet, but the sky was clear. He took a long look to the southeast, towards his home.

He would give Mia a proper burial, and then it would be time to leave Prox and its bad memories behind. He could start again in Vale, away from the wicked and unforgiving tundra, and leave some of the pain behind him. He could leave Saturos's abuse and his family's hardships here on the ice, and even though he would never forget Mia, he could bring her memory somewhere that it could do what she had done best in life – to cause things to flourish, to be filled up with devotion and joy.

Even as he thought this, the blue mist began to move with a purpose. It moved like a vortex down the center of the Lighthouse, leaving the air behind it turbulent. Then, all was still. Felix wondered what had happened. His eyebrows furrowed as he observed his surroundings, watching and listening.

After a moment, he thought he heard something, but the wind at the Lighthouse's zenith was too strong for him to know for sure. He cupped his hand to his ear again, this time listening carefully.

He heard the noise again. It was coming from the base of the Lighthouse. Had someone come after him? He realized that his departure had probably worried Kraden.

He got back on the elevator. As it carried him back to the surface, he heard the noise again, this time with much more clarity.

"FELIX!"

It was high-pitched, but of more than that, Felix couldn't be sure.

The elevator came to a slow halt at the ground.

"FELIX!" he heard again.

There was no mistaking it, but Felix hardly dared to believe. He sprinted toward the antechamber.

"FELIX!"

He came to a halt at the front of the entrance to the Lighthouse. He couldn't convince his throat to make a sound as a pair of azure eyes stared back at him from just inside the chamber.

He stood, heart racing, unable to believe it was true. For the first time since he could remember, he found himself with tears in his eyes.

"Mia…"

FIN


End file.
